WE WON’T KNOW until tomorrow whether the Yes or No campaign in the Marriage Referendum has won, but the big winner today was #HomeToVote.

The Twitter hashtag spawned a movement: Irish people returning from abroad (whether on holiday, living away, or otherwise) letting the country know that they were returning to cast their vote.

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As the #HomeToVote tweets started streaming in, it became clear people were willing to travel a long, long way to have their say on same-sex marriage.

From England… 

Scotland

Ethiopia

Paris

Slovakia 

Barcelona

Bangkok

New York

Germany

Mozambique 

Their long journeys didn’t go unnoticed. If you spotted a colleague or friend looking a bit misty-eyed while scrolling on their phone, they were probably reading Twitter:

#HomeToVote ended up trending all over the world, which, as the day went on, became less and less surprising.

Trendsmap Trendsmap

The long journeys taken by some also got people thinking about the nature of referendums and living abroad. Some people couldn’t travel, or had lived away too long to be allowed to vote.

The fact that people were travelling in their droves to Ireland to vote in a referendum on same-sex marriage didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the world.

Here we are making headlines again:

Buzzfeed Buzzfeed

Buzzfeed Buzzfeed

The Guardian The Guardian

Russia Today Russia Today

The Huffington Post The Huffington Post

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan

Gay Star News Gay Star News

Though it appears that the great majority of those travelling home to vote were from one side of the campaign, regardless of what happens tomorrow #HomeToVote was a big win for Ireland.

It showed that people – particularly young people, at a time when emigration has seen youths from across the country move abroad in search of work – are willing to take big steps to have their voice heard.

And it showed that there’s a fierce pride still burning in Ireland, as well as a seemingly endless capacity for shedding tears.

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