Proceedings at poll

(1) At the hour fixed for opening the poll the presiding officer and poll clerk shall, in the presence of the candidates, or their agents and such of the voters as are present, open the ballot box and ascertain that there are no ballot papers or other papers therein, after which the box shall be locked, and the presiding officer shall keep the key thereof, and the box shall be placed on a table in full view of all present and maintained there until the closing of the poll. (2) Immediately after the ballot box is so locked, the presiding officer shall call on the voters to vote. (3) The presiding officer shall secure the admittance over every voter in the polling station and shall see that he is not impeded or molested at or about the polling station. (4) Subject to subsection (3) of section 15 of the Act, every voter upon entering the polling station, shall produce his identification card and shall declare his name, residence and occupation. (5) The presiding officer shall mark the ballot paper on the back with his initials and, calling out the name of the voter in an audible voice, and marking the voter in such manner as is prescribed by this regulation, deliver the paper to him within the (6) Any candidate or the polling agent of any candidate may challenge the identity of any voter and shall upon so challenging Belize City Council 51 the identity of any voter be entitled to examine the identification card of that voter and to compare the same with the registration record card relating to such voter. (7) A voter shall be marked by the dipping of the forefinger of his right hand up to at least the first joint in indelible ink. If a voter has no fore-finger on his right hand or if for any other reasons it is, in the opinion of the presiding officer, not practical to mark such forefinger such other finger as the presiding officers shall direct shall be marked in the manner prescribed or, if in the opinion of the presiding officer it is not practical to mark any finger of a voter, such voter shall be marked with indelible ink in such way as the presiding officer may deem fit. (8) The voter shall then retire to one of the compartments provided for the purpose, but within the polling station, and having privately marked his vote on the ballot paper in the manner prescribed by the preceding paragraph and folded it up so as to conceal his vote, but so as to show the initials of the presiding officer on the back shall place it in the ballot box in the presence of the presiding officer after having shown to him the official mark on the back, and the voter, having voted, shall forthwith leave the polling station. (9) The presiding officer, after having delivered to the voter a ballot paper and while the voter is recording his vote, shall make a mark against the name of the voter on his copy of the register of electors to indicate that the vote of that person has been received, but not so to show the particular ballot paper given to him.