Get Registered

With the possibilities of 80% turnout in the United States tomorrow, I can’t help but think of need to get all people registered to vote for the local and european elections next Summer.

Currently the Draft Register of Electors is being prepared, and has been published since the 1st of November. It is available to be inspected at all public amenity sites such as libraries, garda stations and local authority offices in your areas up until the 25th November 2008.  The Final Register of the Electors is the prepared and bound on the 1st of February each year and comes into force on the 15th February 2009.  After this date, if you are still not on the register, you can apply to be put on the supplementary Register up until 14 days before an election/referenda day.  With all of the county councils online these days, getting the necessary forms can sometimes be as easy as downloading a pdf of the registeration form (RFA1 – Via  Checktheregister.ie). In some cases it may mean just calling the co-ordinator of the Register in the local authority region you are in.First things first though, checktheregister.ie is the online version of the Register of Electors and is an invaluable starting point to determine if one is on the Register or not, and what to do in that situation.

For the purpose of the local and European elections next year, the electorate is somewhat widened, to that of the Dáil or Presidential elections.

In order to vote in the European elections, you need to be one of the following

• An Irish citizen;
• A British citizen; or
• another European Union citizen.

In order to vote in the local elections, you need to fulfil one of the following

• An Irish citizen;
• A British citizen;
• another European Union citizen; or
• non-EU citizens.

Usual rules apply. You need to be over the legal age of 18 to vote and you have a full time residence address.

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