I’ve mentioned before that the number of seats with a winning margin of less than 500 doubled from the 1997 election to the 2002 one- from 9 to 18. Of those, in the last election, two were decided by less than 10 votes.
That means that your vote, and the votes of your family and friends, may be enough to tip the election one way or another next year.
But before you get a rush of blood to the head with the heady power you’ve been entrusted with you’re going to have to first make sure that you are registered to vote. No vote and you just don’t matter.
Helpfully, I can link directly to a form for you to print out and post off to your local City or County Council. The Irish Voter Registration Form (pdf)
If you have more specialised needs (such as wishing to register for a postal vote, for example) then just take a look at this page on OASIS. They also tell you how to find out where to send your filled in form.
Two last points. If you still can’t work out where to send your form, leave a comment and I’ll get back to you. And remember to tick the opt-out box in column (v) so your electoral details aren’t made available to junk mailers.
Edit: See here for a voter registration form you can print on A4 paper
12 Comments
[…] Very useful guide on how to register to vote by Simon McGarr. […]
Simon,
Well it wouldn’t take a genius to work out that the governments e-voting initiative was flawed from day one. I agree with your general points above.
I wonder if the mavens at the stronger parties realise that the swing and young voters in this country potentially spend more time on-line than not?
What was that e-commerce act all about in 2000? 😉
So, on-line voting does three things:
1. removes the need for people en masse at polling stations, 2. taken the burden off employers to release commuters to exercise their democratic rights, ergo saves money, and; 3. allows the “vote once and vote often” saying apply.
Revenue On-Line works and is relatively secure!
e-voting was a criminal waste of money.
The sooner the grey skinned, Dunne’s suit, merc and Lexus hybrid chauffeured ones realise that they are out of touch the better.
Oh where, oh where are all the strategists gone?
Ciao!
Jack,
To see my previous post on e-voting specifically, take a look at E-voting: would you like more of this?
Good article Simon. As regards e-voting I must say that in all my time in politics not once did a constituent come up to me and say “Seamus, you must do something and bring in e-voting” What a waste of public money on a project that was indeed flawed from the beginning.
Hello Seamus! Similarly, I have yet to hear the public baying for ID cards. Did Labour come out for or against them recently? I forget.
[…] I previously posted about the importance of registering to vote, with some figures intending to show that individual votes can make the difference between one government and another. […]
[…] It seems that It MySpace will now be encouraging people to register to vote and Walmart are going to be doing something like this too by running an initiative to register all their staff to vote. They have 1.3Million employees. Simon McGarr wrote a guide on how to register to vote which deserves attention. […]
[…] It seems that It MySpace will now be encouraging people to register to vote and Walmart are going to be doing something like this too by running an initiative to register all their staff to vote. They have 1.3Million employees. Simon McGarr wrote a guide on how to register to vote which deserves attention. […]
[…] I previously wrote about how a handful of votes in a handful of constituancies will decide the next election. I took us on a little tour of the Irish PR system, explaining why your fourth and fifth preferences can make the difference between success or failure for a candidate. And I gave a link to a printable version of the Irish voter registration form. […]
thanks for this comment. I am still eager to cast my vote as I know that every single one counts. I don’t know much about postal vote but I must find soon. By the way I was so annoyed by the person from the City Council who answered my email. I asked about proxy voting and was told it was impossible. What about being slightly pro-active and offering me other options? no way … no hope… That is really so encouraging.
Hello, I have not yet recieved a letter with my voting number on it. I am not sure who to contact in relation to this but maybe you can help. As voteing day is on Thursday i am worried that voteing maybe a problem.
Please advise on this matter if you can help.
Kind regards,
Denis Flynn..
Denis,
You can vote without a polling card, provided you’re on the register. You can check you’re on the register at your local library prior to polling day, if you like, or just turn up and find out on the day.
Bring along a piece of photo id, just to be sure.
Vote well- and if I may say,so- for goodness sake vote for the opposition. 1,2,3 for Labour, Greens and FG in your order of prefernce.