Jane Suiter: Early voting is a potential game-changer
There is a pressing need to address Ireland’s precipitous drop in turnout at elections over recent decades. The figures, though alarming, are not a true reflection of the situation. The register is riddled with inaccuracies, with hundreds of thousands of deceased people, long-ago emigrants, and double registrations still on the roll in constituencies across the country.
Tackling the register has to be a priority for the new Electoral Commission. However, it has its work cut out and is stymied by having to work with all 31 local authorities, some of whom are more proactive than others in keeping the register up to date.
This does not mean that all else is rosy. A visiting expert in recent months looking at the Irish system remarked that it seems we don’t really want people to vote, putting myriad obstacles in their way. These obstacles include the requirement to vote on one day only; the necessity to vote in your local polling station; the lack of early voting; limited postal voting; and few allowances for the less abled or visually impaired. There are almost as few allowances for students. Coupled with the chronically inaccurate register, it could be argued that it is a testament to our political engagement that turnout is so high.
We cannot take this for granted. Liberal democracy is under attack across the globe and voters are becoming increasingly disillusioned, turning to populists and even authoritarians of the left and right if, indeed, they believe their vote makes any difference. We have to make it easier for people to feel involved, and voting has to be the priority.
Other countries make it easier to vote. In Australia and Canada, for example, every voter can choose how they want to vote for each election. All voters are eligible to vote on election day, at an early voting centre or via postal ballot. Our rules mean we must vote only at one specific polling station on one day. In other jurisdictions such as Australia you can go to any polling station. This means more ballots are needed in each station, but a system of prenotification should mean this is not insurmountable. But crucially, in Australia, all voters no matter where they choose to vote, can still choose to do so with pencil and paper.
If the Australians can manage it, why can’t we? If we allowed this, students would not have to rush home. It would ensure no one is registered at more than one address after moving home, while those in hospital, travelling for work and visiting friends or family would not be disenfranchised.
Early voting is not just a possibility, it’s a potential game-changer. Each constituency could have one or more designated centres for voting up to a week or two in advance. This is simply a matter of logistics, resources and, most importantly, priorities.
Phone voting would have huge benefits for those registered as visually impaired or unable to get to a polling station. This is not just about following the lead of other countries, it’s about ensuring that every voice is heard and every vote counts. Some countries choose to extend voting over two days. This may boost turnout for those who cannot make it on a particular day or if the weather is particularly inclement. However, the difference it would make is not clear.
After our ill-fated experiment with electronic voting machines, which are now scrapped for parts, there is a clear appetite to retain pencil and paper. It also adds to the drama of count day beloved of political nerds and aficionados. But that too could be opened up to the light. Other countries allow people to register interest in working in a polling station or count centre, democratising the expertise and opening it up to all. We could do that without solely relying on public servants and party stalwarts.
In a world where democracy is under threat, our laissez-faire attitude needs to change. Unless we do this, we simply automatically disenfranchise all those in hospital, on holiday or unable to vote for other reasons. That is simply not good enough.
Jane Suiter is a professor in the School of Communications at Dublin City University and a director at the Institute for Future Media, Democracy and Society
Theresa Reidy: Fall in turnout is not as dramatic as figures suggest, but all voters should be eligible to vote by post
The only thing we know for sure about turnout at the general election is that the official recorded figure is incorrect. Most likely it understates participation to a considerable extent. As far back as 2005, then minister for the environment Noel Dempsey admitted there were 300,000 “ghost voters” on the registers. In the past 20 years, attempts to improve their accuracy have been sporadic at best, and likely completely stalled during the pandemic. Some analysts suggest there could be at least 500,000 names on the register now that should not be there. These include people who have died, emigrated, or moved house and now find that they appear on multiple registers.
The good news is that the Electoral Commission established in 2022 has been given responsibility for overseeing the modernisation of the electoral registers. The commission has prioritised getting new voters registered and 400,000 people have been added in the past year. The priority must always be ensuring that those who want to vote should be able to do so. The next task for the commission is to ensure that local authorities deliver systematic improvements in the accuracy of the registers. Most importantly, a robust process for managing registration must be designed to ensure that we don’t find ourselves having this exact conversation again in another 20 years.
Cleaning up the registers is also an essential step for another electoral reform that is urgently needed – making postal voting much more widely available to all citizens. The 2022 Electoral Act delivered small improvements in access to postal voting. This was a step in the right direction, but the criteria for postal voting remains far too narrow. Every voter must be given the right to avail of a postal vote without explanation or need for verification by an employer or university. And furthermore, the process of applying for a postal vote must become a simple administrative task that can be completed on a tablet or mobile phone.
People may miss polling day because they are away on holidays, travelling for work, receiving medical treatment or caring for friends or family. In all these circumstances, the absence is likely to cover a few days and the only way of ensuring they can vote is to provide a postal option. We already have limited postal voting, we just need to simplify the process and extend eligibility to all voters.
Postal voting systems have vulnerabilities, and we should acknowledge these at the outset. A postal ballot is not necessarily a secret ballot. In rare circumstances, a voter might be pressured by family or friends to vote in a particular way. An active media campaign that emphasises the sanctity of the ballot would have to accompany any change in postal voting eligibility, and that campaign would have to run at every election. And the registers must be updated first. No voter should have the possibility of applying for more than one postal vote. This is an imperative precondition needed to ensure that we retain our very high levels of trust in electoral processes.
These are important reforms but we also need to keep in mind that people may not vote for a variety of reasons. International research suggests that efforts to improve registration and make voting easier may improve turnout by 3-5 per cent. The much more vexing challenge lies with people who aren’t motivated to vote. They may not be interested in politics or may not believe they can have any effect on who gets into government or how they govern. These motivation effects are much more complex to address and their solution lies far beyond technical changes to electoral processes.
Dr Theresa Reidy is a political scientist at University College Cork
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