Sec. 3. Personation. Ballot Act, 1872, the offender himself or of any other person. The clause, therefore, affects the following: Voters who take a bribe : (1.) On account of having themselves voted or not voted. (2.) On account of some other person having voted or not. (3.) On account of having induced some other person to vote or refrain from voting. Non-voters who take a bribe (1.) On account of some voter having voted or not. (2.) On account of having induced any other person to vote or refrain from voting. II. PERSONATION. The following definition of personation (contained in s. 24 of the Ballot Act, 1872) is, by s. 3 of the Act of 1883, re-enacted, and declared to be a corrupt practice : 66 "A person shall, for all purposes of the laws relating to Parliamentary and Municipal Elections, "be deemed to be guilty of the offence of persona❝tion, who at an election for a county or borough, "or at a Municipal Election, applies for a ballot 66 paper in the name of some other person, whether "that name be that of a person living or dead, or "of a fictitious person, or who, having voted once "at any such election, applies at the same election "for a ballot paper in his own name." The same section enacts that "the provisions of "the Registration Act, 1843, 6 Vic. c. 18 (ss. 85-89 "both inclusive) shall in England and Ireland respec"tively apply to personation under this Act in the 66 66 same manner as they apply to a person who know ingly personates and falsely assumes to vote in the name of another person as mentioned in the said (C Act." Sec. 3. ballot paper constitutes Applies for a ballot paper."-Under the 6 Vic. Applying for c. 18, some doubt prevailed as to whether it was not voting. essential for the completeness of the offence of personation, that the voter should actually have voted. But the point was really settled by R. v. Hague (33 L. J. M. C. 81) where Mellor, J., said: "When a man presents a voting paper to the officer, the personation is complete," and now all doubt on this head has been set at rest by the provisions of s. 15 of the Ballot Act, which enact that "any person applying for a ballot paper under this Act "shall be deemed to 'tender his vote' or to 'assume "to vote" within the meaning of the enactments [relating to the representation of the people, and "to the registration of electors]; and any appli"cation for a ballot paper under this Act, or expressions relative thereto, shall be equivalent "to voting in the said enactments and any "expressions relative thereto." , The essence of the offence is, that he has " "knowingly personated and falsely assumed to vote in the name of some other person, and is not in fact the * For the application of the Act to Scotland, see s. 26. It is also expressly provided by s. 31 that the personation clauses "shall apply to any election for a University or combination of Universities." What is personation Sec. 3. Detection of personation. person in whose name he voted " (6 Vic. c. 18, s. 88. See cases at Oldham, 1 O. & H. 152 &c., and Berwick, 44 L. T. 290); and this must be proved (Athlone, 3 O. & H. 59). To personate means to pretend to be a particular person; and as soon as a man by word, act, or sign, holds himself forth as a person entitled to vote, with the object of passing himself off as that person, and exercising the right which that person has, he has personated him; the giving a false answer to any one of the questions put to him makes him guilty of another offence, viz., misdemeanour (Reg. v. Hague, 33 L.J.M.C. 81, & 4 B. & S.720). And this may be the case whether he assumes to vote in the name of a person living or dead, or even of a fictitious person, if, owing to the carelessness of the authorities having to make up the register, or otherwise, a fictitious name should happen to find a place thereon. If, moreover, having already once recorded his vote, he attempts to vote a second time in his own name, this also is personation, although not in the literal sense an assuming to vote in the name of another person. The offence in both cases having this common foundation, that a right is claimed which, in the first instance, is actually non-existent, and in the second has already been exhausted. The fact of the personation must be brought to the notice of the returning officer at the time of voting by the candidate's polling agent, it being provided by s. 86 of the Registration Act, that "if at the time any person tenders his vote at such election, or after he has voted, and before he leaves the polling booth, any such agent [as appointed under s. 85] shall declare to the returning officer, or his respective deputy presiding therein, that he verily believes and undertakes to prove that the said person so voting is not in fact the person in whose name he assumes to vote, or to the like effect, [or that he has already voted at the election]* then and in every such case it shall be lawful for the said returning officer,† and he is hereby required immediately after such person shall have voted, by word of mouth, to order any constable or other peace officer to take the said person so voting into his custody, which said order shall be a sufficient warrant and authority to the said constable or peace officer for so doing." Sec. 3. stables. And for this purpose the sheriffs and returning Special Conofficers are (by s. 90) empowered to provide a sufficient attendance of constables or peace officers in each booth; but s. 8 of the C. P. Act, 1854, provides that "no person having a right to vote at the election shall be liable or compellable to serve as a special constable at or during any election unless he shall consent so to act; and he shall not be liable to any fine, penalty or punishment whatever for refusing so to act." Application for As to the subsequent proceedings, after the arrest a ballot paper * These words are necessary, as s. 24 of the Ballot Act makes it personation to apply a second time for a ballot paper. The words "or his deputy" which followed here have been omitted, as by Rule 50, under the Ballot Act, the presiding officer's clerks may not order "the arrest, exclusion or ejection from the polling station of any person." may be personation. of the alleged personator, see ss. 87-89 of the Registration Act, in Appendix. As, by virtue of s. 15 of the Ballot Act, the mere applying for a ballot paper may be an act of personation, it would appear that the returning officer may order the arrest of a voter, even before he has actually voted, e.g., in case of the voter applying a second time for a voting paper; or it might happen that two voters were so much alike as to cause the personation agents to believe that one of them had already voted; or two voters may have the same name (Oldham, 1 O. & H. 152). In such a case, the word "immediately after such person shall have voted," in the above section, must be taken to have been impliedly repealed. But it may of course happen that the voter insists on his right to vote, and the returning officer or his respective deputy (see Ballot Act, 1872, s. 10) shall, in that case, if required on behalf of any candidate, put to the voter, at the time of his tendering his vote, and not afterwards, the following questions or either of them in the exact words of the Statute, (Canterbury K. & O. 326) :— 1. Are the you same person whose name appears as A. B. on the register of voters now in force for the County of (or as the case may be); 2. Have you already voted, either here or elsewhere at this election, for the County (or as the case may be). of And he shall also, if required on behalf of any |