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LAST UPDATE | 24 Oct
TODAY IS THE day this country will elect its 10th Uachtarán na hÉireann.
We know the person to follow the two terms of President Michael D Higgins will be a woman, but there is still a man on the ballot paper so that may confuse things slightly for anyone casting their vote today.
So this is a brass tacks guide on how to vote in today’s presidential election and what you need to know as you go to your polling station.
How long do I have?
You have precisely 15 hours to cast your ballot in person today, with polls having opened at 7am and closing at 10pm.
The rules state that if you’re in the door before 10pm, you’ll be allowed to vote.
Where do I go?
Your local polling station is related to where you’re registered to vote, so you need to go there.
The location of your polling station will be listed on your polling card, but don’t worry there are other ways to find out and you do not need your polling card in order to vote either.
If you can’t find your polling card and you’re not sure where your local polling station is you can go to CheckTheRegister.ie to both confirm you are registered to vote and to find out where your polling station is.
Unfortunately, if you’re currently not registered to vote it is obviously too late to register today but it probably serves as a reminder to do so before the next time the country goes to the polls.
In order to vote in a presidential election you must be an Irish citizen aged over 18 who is ordinarily resident in Ireland and registered to vote.
Do I need to bring ID?
Yes you should because polling staff have to confirm your identity and may ask for ID in order to do so. If they ask you for ID you have to produce it in order to vote.
When you arrive at your polling station on polling day, you will be asked to say your name and address. At this point they may ask for ID.
If the polling staff are satisfied with your identity and that your name is on the Register of Electors, the Presiding Officer will stamp the ballot paper and give it to you.
You can bring your polling card as it might make things simpler but you might still be asked for ID.
We also recommend bringing proof of address. It’s not vital, but will help speed things along if there’s any confusion or issue with the information the polling station has about you.
Should I put my phone away?
Yes, photography is prohibited in polling stations so just put your phone away until you leave the polling station.
The presiding officer has direction over the conduct of the polling station so they can certainly show some leeway but you can save yourself the headache by just being aware of the rules.
Are they strict about campaign material and clothing?
Candidates, their agents, party workers and electors (that’s you) are allowed to wear party emblems as long as they are not “unduly obstructive or offensive”.
However, what is classed as a party emblem, and in what manner it could be considered unduly obstructive or offensive, isn’t well-defined, so show a bit of common sense.
If there’s an issue, you may be asked to cover the offending item up, or another arrangement put in place to allow you and others to vote quickly and easily.
This is minor compared to full-on canvassing, described as leafleting, displaying posters, or using a loudspeaker. This is not allowed within 50 metres of a polling station, and you could be arrested for it. So that’s a lot more strict.
How do I actually go about voting?
This is the ballot paper you will receive today. Everyone in the county will receive the same ballot paper as the presidential election is the only national election we participate in.
As you can see there, there are three candidates on the ballot and each of them can be elected. However, Jim Gavin has withdrawn from the contest, just not early enough to actually be taken off the ballot paper.
It means that you can still vote for Gavin and technically he can still be elected, but would presumably decline the presidency in the unlikely event he is chosen.
But for the purposes of a voting guide we must treat him the same as the other two candidates, Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys, so we shall.
Just like general and local elections, Ireland uses proportional representation in presidential elections with each voter having a single transferable vote.
This means that as well as voting for your chosen candidate with a first preference, you can also give lower preferences to other candidates if you wish.
Listing the candidates by preference means that you are instructing that your vote be transferred to your second preference if your first choice is eliminated and so on.
In today’s case it means you can mark your ballot paper 1, 2, 3 in order of your preference, mark it 1, 2 in order of your preference or simply mark 1 beside your favoured candidate.
But just to be clear about it, because there are only three candidates today there is no way a third preference will be counted because there will be no third count.
When counting takes place from tomorrow, one of the candidates may be elected on the first count, in which case the count is completed.
If this doesn’t happen the lowest of the three candidates will be eliminated and their second preferences transferred. Whoever is leading after those transfers would then be elected as there are only two candidate left, one with a bigger vote, completing the count.
We’ll have a more detailed explainer on the count process tomorrow morning but for now that’s all you need for voting.
What’s a spoiled vote?
A spoiled vote is a vote that is cast by a voter but is deemed to be ineligible to be counted as a preference for any of the candidates.
There are various reasons why a vote may be deemed as spoiled, such as if the ballot was left blank or the preference of candidates was not clear. One common error may be putting an X or a tick beside two candidates instead of numbering them, meaning the returning officer cannot distinguish a preference.
A voter may deliberately choose to spoil their vote but such votes will not be recorded as being deliberately spoiled and will be grouped with ballots that are filled out incorrectly.
The number of spoiled votes are recorded by the returning officer but spoiled votes will have no bearing on who wins an electoral contest because they do not count towards any candidate.
When will we know the result?
As mentioned above, we’ll have a more detailed article on this question, but it’s fair to say that we’re very likely to have a first count at some point tomorrow and that may give us a final result or a very strong indication of what it will be.
Before any actual results, we are likely to have a strong indication tomorrow morning after ballot boxes are opened around the country.
Ballot boxes will be open at 9am tomorrow and if you pay attention to us here at The Journal around that time we will give an idea of how it’s looking based on early tallies as the papers are sorted.
I haven’t really been paying attention to the election, can I catch up?
Wondering who to vote for this Friday? The Journal’s new Election Centre has you covered.
— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) October 21, 2025
From candidate profiles and explainers to podcasts and the latest news, we’re bringing you everything you need in the final days of the campaign – all the way through to the count. pic.twitter.com/HpfRew86ks
I’m glad you asked because The Journal’s new Election Centre has you covered.
From candidate profiles and explainers to podcasts and the latest news, everything you need to know about the election and what’s been happening in the campaign is there.
Happy voting!
- With reporting by Nicky Ryan
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