Clause 18

The Returning Officer may, for the purposes of the poll in an election —

establish all or part of a nursing home as a special polling station; or

authorise all or any of the following special polling arrangements to be provided to service the voting needs of electors who are in‑patients or residents of the nursing home during the election period of the election by enabling them to record their votes there in that poll:

by establishing one or more polling places within the nursing home for those in‑patients or residents to attend in person to record their votes;

by deploying one or more mobile polling teams to visit those in‑patients or residents to take the votes of those in‑patients or residents, as the case may be.(2) In determining whether to establish a special polling station under subsection (1) in a nursing home for the purposes of the poll in an election, the Returning Officer must have regard to whether there is or is likely to be, during the election period of the election, a significant number of electors who are in‑patients or residents of the nursing home and who —

are unable or likely to be unable to travel to the ordinary polling stations allotted to them respectively under section 18(1) except with great difficulty; but(b)are able to vote at the nursing home by marking a ballot paper personally or in the manner allowed under section 25(7).(3) In addition, the Returning Officer must have regard to the following factors in determining whether to authorise special polling arrangements by way of mobile polling to be made available under subsection (1)(b)(ii):

the number of electors who are in‑patients or residents of the nursing home with any physical condition, serious illness or infirmity that will preclude the electors’ attendance in person at a polling place in the special polling station;

the practicality of establishing and deploying mobile polling teams to take the votes of those electors, having regard to their numbers and the resources required for doing so;

the existence of any peculiar circumstances within the nursing home applying to those electors and their voting needs.(4) Subject to subsection (5) and regulations made under section 30C, a poll and voting at a special polling station by electors who are in‑patients or residents of a nursing home where the special polling station is established must be conducted, as far as practicable, in the same manner as that in which a poll and voting at an ordinary polling station on polling day is conducted.(5) Despite sections 62, 63 and 64, the person in charge of a nursing home where a special polling station is established under subsection (1) may lawfully inform a presiding officer who is a member of a mobile polling team deployed at that special polling station that a visit to an in‑patient or a resident of the nursing home is forbidden on medical grounds, and the mobile polling team must then not visit the in‑patient or resident to take the in‑patient’s or resident’s vote.Voting at special polling station is in lieu of voting at ordinary voting station30B.—

Where a special polling station is determined to be established under section 30A(1) in a nursing home for the purposes of the poll in an election, the Returning Officer must, without delay, allot the special polling station to every person —

whose name is entered in the certified register of electors in operation;

who is entitled to have his or her name so entered or retained in that register of electors; and

who is an in‑patient or a resident of the nursing home during the election period of that election.(2) An elector who is allotted to a special polling station under subsection (1) may —

attend in person at a polling place in the special polling station to record his or her vote at an election, or have his or her vote taken by a mobile polling team; or

attend in person at the ordinary polling station allotted to him or her under section 18(1)(c) to record his or her vote at an election,but not at both in respect of the same election.Regulations relating to special polling arrangements30C.—

Subject to subsection (2) and section 81B, the Minister may make regulations to modify the application of any provision of this Act to the conduct of polls in any special polling station established in a nursing home, including but not limited to —

the preparation by or under the authority of the Returning Officer of the list of electors allotted to the special polling station;

the manner of voting at the special polling station and the taking of votes by mobile polling teams;

fixing the maximum number of polling agents who may be admitted to a special polling station;

the admission of any person who is employed by the nursing home (whether or not a citizen of Singapore) into any polling place in the special polling station or authorising the presence of such an employee in the special polling station, for the purpose of providing any assistance to the presiding officers, mobile polling team or any elector at the special polling station;

the procedure on the closing of the poll at the special polling station; and

the procedure on the counting of the votes cast at the special polling station, including the recounting of such votes.(2) Regulations made under subsection (1) —

must not authorise any person to vote more than once at an election;

must provide for a record of every vote cast at a special polling station, including votes taken by a mobile polling team, but the vote record must not contain any means of identifying the person who cast the vote; and

must be consistent with the principles laid down in any provision of this Act that is modified by those regulations.”.