Page:Thomas Hare - The Election of Representatives, parliamentary and municipal.djvu/204

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The duties on the returning officer, so far as they are affected by the proposed law, will be,—upon a dissolution of Parliament,—to receive daily from the registrar of electors the "Gazette", containing the names of candidates, and to direct the publication and distribution of copies at such places as shall be most accessible to the electors. On the day of the election to receive, through the agency of the polling-clerks whom he will appoint, the voting papers; and, at its close, to report to the registrar the number of votes which have been polled, and after receiving the declaration of the quota to make the return to the writ of the due election of the candidate or candidates for the constituency for which he officiates. In some cases, as in large constituencies, he may be able to make that return without the assistance of the registrars; in other cases, as in small or very divided constituencies, he will not be able to make it until the voting papers have been sorted by the registrars. Other and subordinate duties, such as that of finally collecting, arranging, and binding up all the voting papers of his constituency, for future reference and verification if required, are mentioned elsewhere. The day of election throughout