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Local returning officers.
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10.—(1) The person who would be the returning officer at a Dáil election in a constituency shall be the returning officer (in this Act referred to as “the local returning officer”) in that constituency for the purposes of a presidential election.
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(2) Where a person referred to in subsection (1) is prevented by illness or other reasonable cause from performing all or any of the duties of a local returning officer or where a vacancy occurs in an office by virtue of which a person would be the returning officer at a Dáil election, the Minister shall appoint a person to act as local returning officer for the constituency concerned during the period of the prevention or vacancy, as the case may be.
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(3) It shall be the duty of the local returning officer for a constituency to take the poll at the election in the constituency and to count the votes cast thereat and to do such acts and things as may be necessary for effectually taking the poll and counting the votes in the constituency in accordance with this Act.
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(4) Where at a contested election the same person is local returning officer for two or more constituencies, the person shall—
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(a) in case those constituencies are two and not more, appoint, in respect of one of them, a deputy local returning officer to open the ballot boxes and count the votes,
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(b) in any other case, appoint, in respect of each of the constituencies (except one), a deputy local returning officer to open the ballot boxes and count the votes.
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(5) An appointment under subsection (4) may be revoked by the local returning officer concerned and, where an appointment is so revoked or the deputy local returning officer dies, resigns or becomes incapable of acting during the election, another deputy local returning officer shall be appointed under subsection (4).
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(6) Where pursuant to section 30(2) of the Act of 1992 a person has been appointed as assistant returning officer for a part of a constituency, such person shall be the assistant local returning officer for the purposes of a contested presidential election in that part of the constituency.
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(7) An assistant local returning officer shall perform, in the part of the constituency for which he was appointed, such of the duties of the local returning officer for the constituency as that officer is not required by law to perform in person but, if any doubt arises as to the duties of an assistant local returning officer, the doubt shall be determined by the Minister.
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(8) References in this Act to local returning officers shall, where appropriate, include references to assistant, deputy and acting local returning officers.
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