56B. Postal voting by overseas electors designated as postal voters

Amended

Last amended by an amending law of 2023.

(1)

An overseas elector who is designated under section 13A(3A) as a postal voter for an election in an electoral division may record his or her vote at the poll in the election in the electoral division either —

(a)

by using the postal voting method in accordance with the manner prescribed under this section; or

(b)

by attending in person at a polling place in the ordinary polling station allotted to him or her under section 36A(1),but not at both in respect of the same election.

(2)

However, an overseas elector who intends to record his or her vote in person under subsection (1)(b) at the ordinary polling station allotted to him or her must first make and subscribe to the declaration set out in Form 15 in the First Schedule before he or she is given a ballot paper at the ordinary polling station.

(3)

To record his or her vote by the postal voting method at the poll in an election in an electoral division, an overseas elector who is designated under section 13A(3A) as a postal voter for the election in the electoral division must do all the following in the following sequence, before the end of the postal voting period of that election:

(a)

apply to the Returning Officer, once the postal voting period of that election starts and in the manner prescribed by regulations made under section 56F, for postal voting papers to be issued to the overseas elector;

(b)

mark the overseas elector’s vote on the postal ballot paper comprised in the postal voting papers issued on application, fold the postal ballot paper and insert it in the return envelope comprised in the postal voting papers so issued, and seal the return envelope in accordance with the regulations made under section 56F;

(c)

take the steps prescribed by regulations made under section 56F with respect to those postal voting papers in order to indicate the date of posting or sending;

(d)

as soon as practicable after the return envelope is sealed, the overseas elector or a person to whom the overseas elector has entrusted the sealed return envelope for posting or delivery, must post or deliver the sealed return envelope to the Returning Officer in Singapore.

(4)

Where an overseas elector records his or her vote at a poll in an election in an electoral division by attending in person at a polling place in the ordinary polling station allotted to him or her under section 36A(1), any other vote that is purportedly recorded by the same overseas elector at the same election is void.