We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE who registered to vote for an expected general election could be missing from the electoral register if the country goes to the polls by Valentine’s Day.
The problem has been highlighted after it emerged that the updated electoral register does not become valid each year until 15 February.
The issue could affect those who registered to vote in the last year, as well as those who changed the address their polling card is sent to. Both groups will currently appear on a draft electoral register.
The exact number of those currently on the draft register is not known, but it is believed to be in the thousands.
The issue has been raised by Fianna Fáil TD Sean Fleming, who has called for the government to remedy it by passing legislation to bring forward the date the register is updated – which will only be possible if the Dáil is not dissolved before it returns tomorrow.
“If the election happens before 15 February, those people who last September and October put their names on the draft register to come into effect this year will find they won’t have a vote…” he told Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1.
“It’s only and solely because of the date of the election. We’ve never had an election in the middle of February before, when the new register comes into effect.”
Meanwhile his party leader Micheál Martin said: “There was an onus on the Government to clear all that up before they named a date and I’m surprised that they let that situation develop.
“I think thousands of people should be facilitated, who are on the draft register, of being able to vote. We may even have the anomaly of people who voted in the local election but won’t be able to vote in the general election, which is very odd indeed.”
Fleming called on the government to pass a motion to update the register by 1 February, and cautioned against another proposal that individual local authorities could use their discretion to add those on their draft registers to the supplementary register.
He said that this may not be possible because of a legal process which requires gardaí to stamp a form to allow individuals to be placed on the supplementary register.
Members of the public have been urged to check if they are registered to vote by contacting their local authority, and to request to be put on the supplementary register up to 15 days before the date of the election.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Vote SF and change..
I am one of these people. I moved in August and in October registered myself and my other half to vote at our new address. They better not deny me my democratic right to get try to get them out of office!
@nothing witty: I sincerely hope that you &others in your situation get your democratic right to vote,no matter who & others want to vote for!
@nothing witty: Government can request Local Authorities to automatically transfer all new 2019/2020 registrations onto the supplementary register!!
It won’t look good for Government to deny thousands of voters their democratic right to vote!!
I wonder if people in your predicament can contact their Local Authorities and ask to be put on the supplementary register,it’s worth a try but asap I’d say!Best of luck!
@nothing witty: surely you can still vote in your currently registered address/constituency – you do not even need your polling card to vote but bring id I would advise – if you are on the current register I guess you can vote… I think it is only if you are not on the current register then this issue affects you.
That said I do think it is a sneaky way to deny some people a vote.
@Niall Ó Cofaigh: As article states the updated electoral register doesn’t become valid until Feb 15th each year so I’d say if Government won’t request Local Authorities to automatically transfer all those to supplementary register this week then those affected should try to contact their own LAs to request transfer to the supplementary register.
I don’t know which would be faster eg ? Government ‘s request to LAs.So at least these voters could contact their own LAs to get information,etc
This just requires a simple amendment to electoral act and should be done.
@Councillor Bill Clear: Fair play to Sean Fleming highlighting this&it was to be brought up in Dail tomorrow but Taoiseach calling election date today!
Don’t worry….. FFG Will get back in and that’s a guarantee…
@windbag: run down to the bookies and put your house on it then. But your going to lose your house. Ffg will lose alot of seats and big seats at that. Ff and sf will benefit but ff will not have a majority. Will fg support ff this time in a confidence agreement, I don’t think so. By the way is undemocratic in my opinion
@windbag:
Sad but true.
@Joe Mc: They may lose seats Joe, but its still going to be FG/FF or FF/FG – and that’s not changing anytime soon
@Joe Mc: you seem to not understand what FFG means. Recent opinion polls have FG to get most votes, SF second and FF third. FG won’t work with SF so it’ll be FG/FF/IND, based on the opinion polls, but we all know what opinions are comparable to so we’ll take that with a grain of salt
@Dave O’Keeffe: Unlikely but SF &FF&SDs,I4C could be a scenario.
Between these voters and the lazy armchair mouthpieces that have an opinion on everything but couldn’t be arsed to vote ffg will get in again.
Ireland can look forward to another 100 years of ff/fg .
We will never learn and we deserve the government we get.
(Waiting for the “who else is there” or “who are you voting for” brigade)
What a load of crap, maybe hold off the election until 2022 just to allow any 16 year old be eligible to vote by then, or to see what happens with Brexit, or in case the government change their ways, . It’s excuse after excuse after excuse. It’s going to be a Ff or Fg government either way. FF fecked us up the last time but sure nobody remembers that so we best vote them back in to save is. It’s a load of shite the Sheep in this country always vote the same way and if you don’t get what I mean ….. probably because your one of the sheep too.
@gary mullen: I don’t think you understand how democracy works somehow
@gary mullen: technically we do not have to have a General Election until April 2021.
But I would like it sooner rather than later.
@David Memery: I do understand how it works, I don’t think you understand that the two main political parties in this country are fecking this country over and running it into the ground but hey, don’t worry about it and when it comes to the vote in Feb you just go and follow everyone else like the good little sheep that you are
@Paul O’Sullivan: true, but regardless of when it happens the outcome will be the same
How about no body vote and we go for a couple of months with out any government and let Micheal D look after the country for a while.. twould save a lot of money.
@John O Brien: I’m pretty sure the current government ministers remain in charge until a new government can be formed. So even if no body was to vote the same people would remain.
This is clearly unconstitutional, in fact so is the requirement of having to register to vote. Most other modern states handle this registration automatically.
This is obviously a strategy to cut the numbers of younger people who can vote as they are the ones who tend to move addresses. We also have the problem of people suddenly being dropped of the live register. We have a outdated system to say the least and people who are responsible for the maintenance of voter registration are failing to make sure our constitutional rights are upheld. All this plays right into FG/FF hands,
I’ll be home to vote for anyone but tweedle dumb and tweedle dee.
@Ibhar Mac Suibhne: waste of a trip
These people have a right to vote therefore the election will have to be postponed untill that date had passed …
If someone registers to vote from January 2020 will they be able to vote? Say if they are in the same boat as anyone who voted last year? If this is sorted
@Siobhan Rosemary: click on link to see if you are already registered. https://www.vote.ie/register/
If you are not registered follow instructions.
You may bet that all the new 18 year old FF/fg voters will be on the register no matter what happens .. have to try and keep the cosy lifestyles going for themselves.
Looks like a tactical master stroke by FG.
This oversight by the outgoing govrrnment further questions their performance record and the competence of their senior civil srrvants and advisors .
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
Non-TCF/GVL Vendors
have your say