ELECTORAL ACT ____________________________________________________________________________________ (b) there is no indication that the applicant has previously received a ballot paper or postal ballot paper for the election; the presiding officer shall mark or otherwise deal with that certificate or proof of identity in a manner directed by the Chief Elections Officer and, subject to subsection (3a), shall hand the applicant a ballot paper. [Subsection amended by s. 24 of Act No. 6 of 2018] (3a) If polling in two or more elections is being conducted simultaneously at the polling station and an applicant declines to accept a ballot paper for any one or more of those elections, the presiding officer shall not hand the applicant a ballot paper for that election and shall record, in such manner as may be prescribed or directed by the Commission, that the applicant did not, at his or her request, receive the ballot paper. [Subsection inserted by s. 24 of Act No. 6 of 2018 (4) A presiding officer, if so directed by the Commission— (a) before handing an applicant a ballot paper in terms of subsection (3), shall require the applicant to submit to an examination specified by the Chief Elections Officer to ascertain whether or not he or she has previously received a ballot paper at that election, and if the applicant refuses to submit to such examination or if such examination shows that the applicant has previously received such a ballot paper, the presiding officer shall not hand him or her a ballot paper; (b) after handing an applicant a ballot paper in terms of subsection (3), shall mark him or her in the manner specified by the Commission. [Section substituted by s. 41 of Act No. 17 of 2007] 57 Manner of voting The voting at an election shall be by ballot which shall be conducted in substance and as nearly as possible in the following manner— (a) every ballot paper shall be in the form prescribed and there shall be printed on every ballot paper— (i) in type of equal size, the names of all the duly nominated candidates at the election in alphabetical order of surnames; and (ii) the symbols, if any, specified by the duly nominated candidates at the election in terms of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section forty-six, each printed to a size that permits the vertical extremities or the horizontal extremities or both such extremities to touch opposite sides of the appropriate square on the ballot paper; and (iii) in capital letters of equal size, the abbreviation of every political party for which a duly nominated candidate at the election is standing or which is sponsoring such a candidate, where the candidate concerned specified the abbreviation in his or her nomination paper in terms of paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section forty-six; and (iv) a passport-sized photograph of the candidate; and [Subparagraph as amended by s. 87 of Act No. 17 of 2007] (v) such other particulars as may be prescribed; (b) before the ballot paper is handed to the applicant, the presiding officer shall mark the ballot paper with the official mark; (c) when the person claiming the vote has received the ballot paper he or she shall— (i) take the paper to the compartment provided for the purpose; and (ii) then signify the candidate for whom he or she desires to vote by secretly placing a cross in the rectangle opposite the name of that candidate or, if there is more than one such rectangle, in the rectangle nearest to the right-hand side of the ballot paper; and 79