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THE BIG DAY is finally upon us.
Today, all those registered to vote in the Republic of Ireland get to cast their vote and have their say on what direction they want the country to take next.
Will the outgoing coalition get another shot at running things? Or will it be all change? Only time will tell.
But for those of you haven’t voted before, or who have just registered for the first time the whole process may be something of a mystery. Not to worry, we’re here with a quick guide to making your voice count in the general election 2016.
First things first
To vote in an Irish election you must be: (a) an Irish or British citizen, (b) 18 years of age or older, and (c) registered to vote.
To start with, assuming you have received no voting card you’ll have to make sure you’re registered to vote. You can do so online at this link. If you can’t find yourself there, not to worry. You may be on a supplementary register, or your registration may not yet have been updated.
Give your local authority a ring if you’re not sure – they should be able to confirm whether or not you’re on the list for your constituency.
Assuming you are registered, you should have received your polling card by now. It’ll look like this:
This will tell you what polling centre you’ve been assigned to.
Polls will open today from 7am until 10pm this evening. You can cast your vote any time at your centre between those hours.
You don’t need your polling card to vote, although it certainly won’t do any harm – it makes life a lot easier for those working in the polling centre for starters as the card displays your electoral number.
https://www.facebook.com/thejournal.ie/videos/vb.137576076262825/1071098772910546/?type=2&theater¬if_t=live_video
Identification
However, not having it is not an impediment to voting. On the other hand you ARE required to bring appropriate identification with you (although you may not necessarily be asked for it). That can be any of the following:
Or any of the following with documentation establishing the address of the holder in the constituency (so, a bank statement or bill for example)
What to do
Once the people in the polling centre are happy that you are in fact who you say you are they’ll issue you with your ballot paper proper.
This will look a little something like this:
Head into one of the voting booths provided and fill it out. This involves putting a number beside each candidate in order of preference, starting with a number “1″, then “2″, “3″ and so on. There are different ways to approach this as you might imagine.
Generally speaking, fill out the candidates in order of preference, and if you really DON’T want a certain candidate to get in then you should leave their name unmarked entirely. Otherwise they may inadvertently end up inheriting your vote, as unlikely as that may seem. We have a full guide to the Irish electoral system of Proportional Representation (PR)/Single Transferable Vote (STV) here. This particular system is quite rare – Ireland and Malta are the only countries which currently use it.
Once you’re finished, fold your ballot paper and put it in the box provided.
If you’re unsure about who to vote for, you can try consulting TheJournal.ie‘s candidate database, or use a vote guidance system like Smartvote. Or you could simply vote for whoever you think looks nicest. All approaches are (unfortunately) equally valid – but if you don’t attend your voting centre you get no say whatsoever. So be sure to get out there.
What not to do
Above all, you want to avoid spoiling your vote. This generally involves putting any mark on the ballot paper that isn’t a number adjacent to a candidate’s face. You will also spoil your vote if you simply don’t fill the paper out at all, or if you fill it out incorrectly. Also marking the voting boxes in any way other than with sequential numbers starting with one will render the ballot invalid, as will submitting a paper that hasn’t been given an official stamp by the polling officer.
We were initially under the impression that should you mark your paper in such a way your vote is gone – but it seems that is not always the case.
Should you require a second ballot paper having spoiled or otherwise marked your first, the decision on whether or not to do so is “at the discretion” of the individual polling station presiding officer. This is more likely to happen in cases of a genuine mistake being made. Still though, it makes most sense to get it right first time round. Once you’ve posted a ballot to the ballot box there are no comebacks, so take your time and make sure you’re voting as you would wish.
As you might imagine, the polling station is a no-camera-phone zone. So taking a photo of what you’re doing isn’t a good idea – it could lead to a fine and or spoiling your vote.
And once you’ve spent your two minutes voting, your job as a good citizen is over and done with. Until the next election anyway. Time to sit back and spend the weekend poring over the results – the first counts from the various constituencies will be in at around 2pm on Saturday afternoon. As always, we’ll be here to keep you up to date with all the counts, tallies and general brouhaha from the various count centres around the country.
Happy voting one and all.
They should just vote to dissolve the party before the electorate do it for them on election day.
Haha, “Fianna Fáil think-in”. Now there’s an oxymoron if ever I heard one.
It sounds to me that the report is focusing mostly on how to win votes, and not on how to improve our country. If politicians focused on bettering our nation, the votes would follow. Or am I being naive?
Either way, FF are burying themselves while Martin is in charge. He couldn’t care less about the country, let alone the party, and in my opinion is just trying to ride out the time until he gets Taoiseachs pension. If FF have any hope they need to get rid of him. Or maybe it’s a good thing as he will be the end of FF at last
@HectorPickaxe: well said
@HectorPickaxe: exactly right. How to stay in power at all costs, nothing to do with how to better the country … oh and how to squeeze the last drop of tax out of everyone!
A think-in? Or get everyone together to come up with ideas and excuses to deflect away from their disregard and incompetence of the job they are not doing well at?
Just disband and regroup under a new name. The brand is dead.
The last time FF had a proper think in Sean Lemass was party leader…………
No doubt it will be like a Party meeting from Orwell’s 1984.
They spent the lifetime of the last government in a cosy arrangement with FG that was a quasi coalition, for the duration of the present government they are in an actual coalition with FG and the Greens, but today they are going to have a think in, to reassert themselves as an opposition party to fight the next election!
The only people more deluded than these self-serving politicians in FF and FG, are the people that blindly vote for them in every election, without once holding them to account for their actions.
There’s many political actions happening without thinking and much thinking happening without actions…If they can not resolve that conundrum there is hardly any point in a think in……I think.
Too much dead wood in FF. They love giving the impression of doing constituency work but achieve little. Totally out of touch with the real issues of real people. Head office needs a clear out. Policy formulating processes comprise “give me an idea that sounds good” rather than any serious strategic evaluation of community needs. Style over substance. Micheal Martin has proven he is not a good leader, but may be the best of what exists within the FF Universe.
They should have a party as it’s unlikely to have another opportunity ..FF the PDs of the next election…..
Barry Cowan….he hasn’t gone away, you know…
The ff think in is taking place in fgs back pocket
Stopped voting for this gang after the crash along with the Greens.
What a complete shambles of a party, they were bad going into gov. and with the fine leadership of MM they have managed to become even worse. Nothing but FG’s female dog’s
@Derek Lyster: Have you seen the alternative dog.
@Tim Quigley: You mean F.G. Wonder will Varadkar and Coveney send messages of thanks to Martin for his unwavering support in trying to get them off the hook concerning Varadkar ‘s leaking of confidential government documents and Coveneys Zappone fiasco. The spineless Taoiseach Martin will need all the help he can get .
They’ll be using white envelopes instead of brown?
Fianna Fail Think-In
Cavan 9/9/21
“How we get the power back and use that power to shaft every single citizen in the country by diverting taxpayers wealth to ourselves and our “partners”, also known as project “Feather My Own Nest”. We will achieve this by not investing in the Health Service, in Transport, in Justice or any other sector unless it has some benefit for the golden circle party members. Collusion with Fine Gael optional but not preferable. The Willie O’Dea model of hanging around for decades, achieving nothing and taking maximum “money, money, money” will be our main approach”
FF traitors and turncoats. They will have to vote confidence in a FG Minister soon. How embarrassing is this going to be in the history of our State. A Civil war party endorsing a rival FG minister with a bad memory and a wonky phone. Don’t know on my door you cheating,immoral,unethical party.
What is their support level at this stage. 9-15% ?
Unfortunately for Fianna Fail, they have little clue as to their own constitution, what the party now stands for at constitutional level, what constitutional differences there are between them and others – and on top of that, they have become synonymous with being attacked to Fine Gael.
Mr Martin and his constant defence of his political foes, is certainly not helping. Let’s be honest. If he wasn’t in office with them, he and the whole Fianna Fail party would be up in arms many times over since January 2020 at the antics of Fine Gael members alone. Instead, now Mr Martin and his party are sucking up to their old foe, turning a now regular blind eye to their antics and being their lapdog.
Fianna Fail fans and members might not like it – but the public sees this and more. It’s no wonder the Fianna Fail Party is declining in support. They doom themselves and do so in big part by still allowing their own top people to help dig the party grave.
@UnitedPeople #StopCETA: TYPO ERROR: * They have become synonymous with being ATTACHED to Fine Gael.
Rumours abound ‘The Paymaster’ himself has organised this sit down in Cavan.
have your say