Voting method

Niue, Niue Assembly Act 1966, accessed 10 June 2020

12. Qualifications of electors

(1) Subject to this Act, a person shall be qualified to be registered as an elector of any constituency if that person –

(a) Is either –

(i) a New Zealand citizen; or

(ii) a permanent resident of Niue as defined by the Entry Residence and Departure Act 1985; and,

(b) Has at some period resided continuously in Niue for not less than 3 years; and

(c) Has been ordinarily resident in Niue throughout the period of 12 months immediately preceding application for enrolment as an elector or, as the case may be, nomination as a candidate;

(d) He is of or over the age of 18 years; and

(e) He has not been convicted in Niue or in any other part of the Commonwealth of any offence punishable by death or by imprisonment for a term of one year or upwards, or has been convicted in Niue of a corrupt practice, unless in each case he has received a free pardon or has undergone the sentence or punishment to which he was adjudged for the offence; and

(f) He is not of unsound mind; and

(g) He is a resident of that constituency.

(2) For the purposes of this section a person shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident in Niue if, and only if –

(a) He is actually residing in Niue; or

(b) Having been actually resident in Niue with the intention of residing there indefinitely, he is outside Niue but has, and has ever since he left Niue an intention to return and reside there indefinitely.

(3) Any person who has been outside Niue continuously for any period of more than 3 years, otherwise than for the purpose of undergoing a course of education or of technical training or instruction during the whole or substantially the whole of that period, shall be deemed not to have been actually resident in Niue during that period with the intention of residing there indefinitely.

53. Place of ordinary voting

Every person registered on an electoral roll unless he is a special voter, shall be entitled to vote at any place in that constituency appointed for the taking of the poll and at no other place.

63. Voting by special voters

(1) Any registered elector may vote as a special voter if, on polling day, he will not be in the constituency of which he is a resident.

(2) Any such elector who desires to vote as a special voter shall, not later than 7 days before polling day, apply to the Chief Electoral Officer for a certificate enabling the applicant to vote in the constituency in which he will be present on polling day, and the Chief Electoral officer if satisfied that the application is made in good faith shall issue the certificate in form 12.

(3) On polling day, on delivery by the special voter of the certificate issued to him as aforesaid, the Presiding Officer at the place named in the certificate shall supply the special voter with a ballot paper containing the names of the candidates nominated for election.

(4) Subject to this section, all the provision of this Part shall, as far as applicable and with the necessary modifications, apply with respect to voting by special voters and to their votes.

(5) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Part, the consecutive number of special ballot papers in any polling booth shall be in a different series from that used in that booth for ordinary voting.

64. Voting in advance of poll

(1) Any registered elector who is entitled to vote as a special voter may instead of applying for a certificate under section 63(2) vote in advance of polling day.

(2) Application for leave to vote in advance shall be made to the Chief Electoral Officer at any time during office hours not earlier than 3 working days after nomination day and not later than the day immediately preceding the day fixed for taking the poll.

(3) Every applicant shall sign and deliver to the Chief Electoral Officer a declaration in form 13 and the Chief Electoral Officer, if satisfied that the application is made in good faith, shall issue to the applicant –

(a) A ballot paper; and

(b) An envelope marked “Vote in Advance of Poll” and addressed to the Returning Officer in charge of the constituency.

(4) (a) Before giving the ballot paper to the applicant, the Chief Electoral Officer shall proceed as provided in section 58;

(b) He shall also enter the date of voting in advance on the counterfoil and the top right-hand corner of the back of the ballot paper, and also against the name of the applicant on the master roll.

(5) The applicant shall then alone and secretly on the ballot paper indicate the candidate for whom he desires to vote, place the ballot paper duly folded in the envelope, and deliver the envelope, after sealing it, to the Chief Electoral Officer. […]

The Constitutional Polls Act (Niue’s brief law on referendums)

3 Application of provisions of the Assembly Act

Subject to this Act and any regulations made under it, and subject to all necessary modifications, the poll shall be taken in the same manner as if it were a general election of members of the Niue Assembly and the Assembly Act 1966 and any other law relating to such elections, as far as they are applicable, shall apply accordingly.

Niue Assembly Act 1966 Section 12(1) and (2) permits both New Zealand citizens and Niuean permanent residents to enroll, provided they meet minimum residency criteria in Niue. However Section 53 requires electors to vote ‘at any place in [their] constituency and at no other place’. The only exception is ‘special voters’ under Sections 63-64 who will be ‘on polling day […] not in the constituency’ but these sections only permit a form of absentee ballot ‘in constituency in which he will be present’(Section 63) or a form of pre-poll ballot ‘vote in advance’ (Section 64). Constitutional Polls Act Section 3 applies Niue Assembly Act 1966 to any referendum to amend the Constitution.