Cook Islands

Table of Contents:

• General Right to Vote
• Exclusion or Potential Exclusion Based on Disability
• Assistive Tools and Policies
• Candidacy or Holding Office

Back to Top

Section 7 states:

A person shall be qualified to be registered as an elector of a constituency if that person -

• (a) is a Cook Islander or a New Zealander citizen, or has the status of a permanent resident of the Cook Islands;
• (b) has at some period actually resided continuously in the Cook Islands for not less than 12 months;
• (c) is 18 years of age or over;
• (d) has been actually resident in the Cook Islands throughout the period of 3 months immediately residing that person's application for enrolment as an elector;
• (e) has not been convicted of any corrupt practice or any offence punishable by death, or imprisonment for a term of 1 year or more unless in each case that person has received a free pardon or has undergone the sentence or punishment to which that person was adjudged;
• (f) is not of unsound mind.

 

Excerpt from the Electoral Act (2004)

Back to Top

Section 4, subsection (2) states:

The Chief Electoral Officer shall appoint a Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, stationed in Rarotonga, to act in the case of the illness, absence, resignation, death, or removal of the Chief Electoral Officer.

 

Section 5, subsection (1) states:

Chief Electoral Officer shall, in the event of any election, appoint the following electoral officials -…

• (b) a substitute for any Returning Officer to act in the case of the illness, absence, resignation, death, or removal of that officer.

 

Section 7, subsection (1) states:

A person shall be qualified to be registered as an elector of a constituency if that person …

• (f) is not of unsound mind.

 

Section 9, subsection (1) states:

The seat of a member shall become vacant, if - …

• (e) on fourteen consecutive sitting days he or she fails, without permission of Parliament to attend in Parliament provided however that permission for failure to attend in Parliament (whether such failure to so attend shall have occurred before or after the coming into force of this Act) shall be deemed always to have been granted by Parliament to any member whose absence from Parliament is caused by illness, or other unavoidable cause, or if the member is attending at any conference, meeting or ceremony or travelling on any mission or business, as a representative of the Government or of Parliament, and provided further that Parliament may delegate its responsibilities under this paragraph to the Speaker or to any member…punishable by death or imprisonment for a term of one year or more; or
• (i) he or she becomes of unsound mind and is so certified by two medical practitioners…

 

Section 11, subsection (2) states:

The Registrar-General shall appoint a Deputy Chief Registrar of Electors, stationed on Rarotonga to act in the case of the illness, absence, resignation, death, or removal of the Chief Registrar of Electors.

 

Section 12, subsection (1) states:

The Chief Registrar of Electors shall from time to time appoint the following registration officials -…

• (c) a substitute for any Registrar appointed under this section to act in the case of the illness, absence, resignation, death, or removal of that officer.

 

Section 41 states:

(1) Every candidate at any election may sign and deliver to the Returning Officer a declaration in Form 7 stating that he or she retires from the election: Provided that if the candidate dies or becomes physically incapacitated, then the persons who nominated the candidate shall file a declaration of death, or retirement as the case may be, together with such certification by one or more medical practitioners as the Returning Officer in his or her discretion may require.

(2) If a candidate dies or becomes incapacitated before the close of nominations, his or her nomination is to be treated in all respects as if it had not been made and his or her deposit shall be returned to the person who paid it and in whose name the receipt for the payment was issued.

(3) If a candidate for a constituency dies or becomes incapacitated after the close of nominations and not later than 10 days before polling day, the Returning Officer shall extend the time for close of nominations for that constituency until noon on the third day following the date of death or incapacity of the candidate, and give public notice accordingly.

(4) If a candidate for a constituency dies or becomes incapacitated within 10 days before polling day, the Returning Officer, shall inform the Chief Electoral Officer who shall issue public notice of the cancellation of the poll for that constituency and of the date on which a by-election shall be held for that Constituency, which date shall be not later than 2 months after the date originally fixed for the poll.

 

Section 60 states:

If at any polling booth any elector is blind, or is unable to read or write (whether because of physical handicap or otherwise), and so desires, the Presiding Officer shall, together with any scrutineers present not exceeding one for each candidate, and if necessary an interpreter, retire with the elector into the inner compartment and there in the sight and presence of the Presiding Officer and scrutineers mark the voting paper according to the instruction of the elector, and the Presiding Officer shall sign his or her own name at the foot thereof.

 

Section 66 states:

(2) Where any elector -

• (a) is wholly or partially blind; or
• (b) is unable to read or write (whether because of physical handicap or otherwise); or
• (c) is not sufficiently familiar with the English or Cook Islands' Maori languages to vote without assistance, and the Chief Electoral Officer has not included with the voting paper, a translation of the "Directions to Elector" section of the voting paper, into a language with which the elector is sufficiently familiar to enable him or her to vote without assistance -the voting paper may be marked by the elector with the assistance of a person, other than a person who is an elector or a person having an interest in the outcome of the election, in accordance with the instructions of the elector.

 

Excerpts from the Electoral Act (2004)

Back to Top

Section 19, subsection (3) states:

Where a person making an application for registration as an elector is physically disabled, the application may be signed on his or her behalf -

• (a) by a donee of a power of attorney from the physically disabled person, who shall indicate on the application that the applicant is a physically disabled person; or
• (b) by an elector who signs by direction of the physically disabled person and who indicates on the application -
  • (i) that the applicant is a physically disabled person; and
  • (ii) that the application is being signed by direction of the applicant.

 

Section 60 states:

If at any polling booth any elector is blind, or is unable to read or write (whether because of physical handicap or otherwise), and so desires, the Presiding Officer shall, together with any scrutineers present not exceeding one for each candidate, and if necessary an interpreter, retire with the elector into the inner compartment and there in the sight and presence of the Presiding Officer and scrutineers mark the voting paper according to the instruction of the elector, and the Presiding Officer shall sign his or her own name at the foot thereof.

 

Section 61 states:

(1) If any elector is precluded by reason of old age, illness or disability from attending at any polling booth, that elector shall in writing, no later than noon on polling day, apply to the Returning Officer for a certificate enabling the elector to vote as a special care elector.

(2) On polling day, between noon and the close of the poll, the Returning Officer shall make such arrangements as may be necessary to provide a mobile booth comprising of a Presiding Officer, Poll Clerk and no more than one scrutineer for each candidate, for the administering of all special care votes for the constituency.

(3) Unless an elector is blind, disabled or illiterate, in which case the provisions of Section 60 with all necessary modifications shall apply, every person present when an elector so votes shall refrain from making himself or herself acquainted with the vote given by the elector, and shall not in any way attempt to influence or interfere with the elector in the free exercise of the elector's vote or allow any person to see or become acquainted with the elector's vote or to assist the elector to vote or to interfere in any way with the elector in relation to his or her vote…

 

Section 66 states:

(2) Where any elector - (a) is wholly or partially blind; or (b) is unable to read or write (whether because of physical handicap or otherwise); or (c) is not sufficiently familiar with the English or Cook Islands' Maori languages to vote without assistance, and the Chief Electoral Officer has not included with the voting paper, a translation of the "Directions to Elector" section of the voting paper, into a language with which the elector is sufficiently familiar to enable him or her to vote without assistance -the voting paper may be marked by the elector with the assistance of a person, other than a person who is an elector or a person having an interest in the outcome of the election, in accordance with the instructions of the elector.

 

Excerpts from the Electoral Act (2004)

Back to Top

Section 5, subsection (1) states:

Chief Electoral Officer shall, in the event of any election, appoint the following electoral officials -…

• (b) a substitute for any Returning Officer to act in the case of the illness, absence, resignation, death, or removal of that officer.

 

Section 7, subsection (1) states:

A person shall be qualified to be registered as an elector of a constituency if that person …

• (f) is not of unsound mind.

 

Section 9, subsection (1) states:

The seat of a member shall become vacant, if - …

• (e) on fourteen consecutive sitting days he or she fails, without permission of Parliament to attend in Parliament provided however that permission for failure to attend in Parliament (whether such failure to so attend shall have occurred before or after the coming into force of this Act) shall be deemed always to have been granted by Parliament to any member whose absence from Parliament is caused by illness, or other unavoidable cause, or if the member is attending at any conference, meeting or ceremony or travelling on any mission or business, as a representative of the Government or of Parliament, and provided further that Parliament may delegate its responsibilities under this paragraph to the Speaker or to any member…punishable by death or imprisonment for a term of one year or more; or
• (i) he or she becomes of unsound mind and is so certified by two medical practitioners…

 

Section 11, subsection (2) states:

The Registrar-General shall appoint a Deputy Chief Registrar of Electors, stationed on Rarotonga to act in the case of the illness, absence, resignation, death, or removal of the Chief Registrar of Electors.

 

Section 12, subsection (1) states:

The Chief Registrar of Electors shall from time to time appoint the following registration officials -…

• (c) a substitute for any Registrar appointed under this section to act in the case of the illness, absence, resignation, death, or removal of that officer.

 

Section 41 states:

(1) Every candidate at any election may sign and deliver to the Returning Officer a declaration in Form 7 stating that he or she retires from the election: Provided that if the candidate dies or becomes physically incapacitated, then the persons who nominated the candidate shall file a declaration of death, or retirement as the case may be, together with such certification by one or more medical practitioners as the Returning Officer in his or her discretion may require.

(2) If a candidate dies or becomes incapacitated before the close of nominations, his or her nomination is to be treated in all respects as if it had not been made and his or her deposit shall be returned to the person who paid it and in whose name the receipt for the payment was issued.

(3) If a candidate for a constituency dies or becomes incapacitated after the close of nominations and not later than 10 days before polling day, the Returning Officer shall extend the time for close of nominations for that constituency until noon on the third day following the date of death or incapacity of the candidate, and give public notice accordingly.

(4) If a candidate for a constituency dies or becomes incapacitated within 10 days before polling day, the Returning Officer, shall inform the Chief Electoral Officer who shall issue public notice of the cancellation of the poll for that constituency and of the date on which a by-election shall be held for that Constituency, which date shall be not later than 2 months after the date originally fixed for the poll.

 

Excerpts from the Electoral Act (2004)