Nursing home residents and postal voters cast their vote

Voting in the general election has begun in nursing homes across the State and among postal voters.

Residents of some of the just over 550 Irish nursing homes began casting their ballots this week. In Dublin city constituencies, voting begins on Monday and is expected to be over by Wednesday.

In Kerry, voting started last Wednesday and will be completed by next Wednesday in 19 nursing homes, with 507 voters.

Returning officer Pádraig Burke said nursing home residents “enjoy voting and it reminds them that they are not forgotten. It’s labour intensive but a recognition of their contribution and value to society”.

Postal votes

Mr Burke said there were 617 postal voters in the amalgamated Kerry constituency. Postal voters include

Defence Forces

and diplomatic corps personnel abroad.

Voting on the islands usually takes place one or two days before the rest of the population votes on February 26th.

Dublin City returning officer James Barry said three teams would travel over three days to 43 nursing homes with 906 registered special voters in Dublin North-West (seven homes), Dublin Bay North (11), Dublin Central (3), Dublin Bay South (16) and Dublin South-Central (6).