Adjournment of poll on polling day

1 The Chief Electoral Officer may direct that the voting at 1 or more polling places on polling day be adjourned because of an unforeseen or unavoidable disruption. 2 Voting may be adjourned on the direction of the Chief Electoral Officer for— a an initial period of no more than 3 days; and b 1 or more subsequent periods of no more than 7 days each. 3 Before making a direction under subsection (2)(b) adjourning the voting for a subsequent period, the Chief Electoral Officer must— a consult— i the Prime Minister; and ii the Leader of the Opposition; and iii any person or organisation that in the Chief Electoral Officer’s opinion is able to give information about the scale and duration of the unforeseen or unavoidable disruption; and b be satisfied that the adjournment is necessary in all the circumstances. 4 The Chief Electoral Officer must, as soon as is reasonably practicable after making a direction under subsection (2)(a), notify the following persons of the adjournment: a the Prime Minister; and b the Leader of the Opposition. 5 The Chief Electoral Officer must, as soon as is reasonably practicable after making a direction under subsection (2)(a) or (b), give public notice of the adjournment in any manner that the Chief Electoral Officer considers appropriate. 6 If voting at 1 or more polling places is adjourned under this section for any number of days, the day on or before which the writ must be returned is postponed by the same number of days. Section 195A : inserted , on 11 March 2020 , by section 17 of the Electoral Amendment Act 2020 (2020 No 2).