LAST UPDATE | 19 May

PUBLIC TRUST IN Ireland’s election process is high but work is needed to improve knowledge of the voting process.

The Electoral Commission (An Coimisiún Toghcháin) today published the results of the 2024 National Election and Democracy Study (NEDS).

The Commission is responsible for Ireland’s electoral system and the NEDS study is carried out after each electoral event to ascertain people’s experience of voting and levels of political interest and knowledge.

It also seeks to gain an understanding of how people use their vote, motivations around voting choices, government satisfaction, and political attitudes.

A spokesperson for the Electoral Commission remarked that while this is a “challenging time for democracies globally, the study indicates high levels of trust in the integrity of Ireland’s elections”.

Across 287 electoral districts, a total of 1426 took part in the study, consisting of 1101 voters in the 2024 General Election and 324 non-voters.

Trust in the voting process

It found that 94% of respondents agree that elections in Ireland are “conducted in accordance with the law”, while 88% agree that elections are “well managed and that election officials are fair”.

And some 96% of voters agreed that they are confident that their ballot papers were secret once they put them in the ballot box.

Meanwhile, only 2% said it was “quite difficult” to vote, while the other 98% said it was easy to do so.

Some 81% have trust in the Electoral Commission, and the same number has trust in the civil service and the judiciary.

Elsewhere, 77% have trust in the Dáil, 68% have trust in both the government and in Citizens’ Assemblies, and 60% have trust in political parties.

The study also shows that a considerable number of the Irish public believe in conspiracy theories.

Some 19% believe that the “establishment is replacing white Irish people with non-white immigrants”, and the same number believes “elected officials want more immigration to bring in obedient voters who will vote for them”.

A total of 25% also believes that “experiments involving new drugs or technologies are routinely carried out on the public without their knowledge or consent”.

Knowledge of the voting process

The study also suggested that Irish voters are knowledgeable about aspects of the voting and democratic process, but a spokesperson remarked that “there is also further work to be done”.

While 99% said there were “confident” that they understood how to cast their vote, some 21% incorrectly believed that they needed to express a preference for each candidate on the ballot paper.

Elsewhere, some 22% believed incorrectly that their vote would be invalid if they didn’t use the pencil provided at the polling station, while 16% were unsure.

Meanwhile, 51% mistakenly thought they needed their polling card to vote and 36% agreed that information about voting procedures is not widely available.

The study also found that for first-time voters, the influence of friends, family, school or work was key to encouraging them to get on the electoral register with 27% citing this as important.

Some 24% were prompted by social media, newspaper, TV or radio ads which were a focus for the Commission during the election campaign.

Meanwhile, 73% agreed with Ireland having a system of automatic voter registration, despite 99% of recently registered respondents considering the registration process to be easy. 

And among the highest reasons given by registered people for not voting in the general election on 29 November were being away on the day (30%), work commitments (27%) with 12% pointing to a disinterest in politics, indecision at 11% and 6% who said their vote did not matter.

Some 37% of those who did not vote were not on the register.

Art O’Leary, Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission, remarked: “We simply have to understand more about who non-voters are and why they are staying away from the polls.

“This data will feed into other research projects we are advancing through our broader Research Programme and our public campaigns and engagement.”