THE GOVERNMENT’S NEW election site Voter.ie, which has been down for at least 18 hours, is expected to come back online later today.

The site has been unavailable since yesterday afternoon, only displaying the message: “Sorry for the inconvenience but we’re performing some maintenance at the moment. We’ll be back online shortly!”

It’s understood that final changes are being made to the electoral register site.

The site is part of government efforts to modernise the electoral register process, which has been criticised as outdated and inefficient. 

The Voter.ie site will initially only be available for the Dublin region as part of a pilot, with the intention that it will be rolled out nationwide if successful.

The aim of the site is to allow citizens to check their electoral details online in real time, and submit requests to update their details or remove themselves from the electoral register.

The service also allows for the online registration of first-time applicants. Each local authority is responsible for maintaining their register through the site.

Shortly after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced the election date as Saturday 8 February yesterday, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy then directed citizens to the Voter.ie website. 

“The Dublin pilot of Voter.ie provides an additional option for those in Dublin with a MyGovID, which is linked to the Public Services Card, to register or update their details online at Voter.ie.”

He said that these changes would enable “a more streamlined application process” that will mean most people won’t have to go to a Garda station to register.

“An evaluation of the platform is planned for the first half of 2020 and will inform decision making on a national roll-out,” Murphy said.

It’s not clear when the register will become available again, but it is expected to be today. 

You can check online whether you are registered to vote at checktheregister.ie. To check the supplementary register, you must contact your local authority.