Director of Services Caitlín Conneely gave an update to Members on the Electoral Register, Local Elections and Dáil Boundary changes in light of the polling date for the Local and European elections and a probable referendum expected to be Friday June 7^th 2024. She confirmed she is the Returning Officer for the Roscommon County Council Local Elections:

·         The functions of the recently constituted Electoral Commission include the objectives of encouraging voter turnout at elections, reviewing local, Dáil and local election boundaries, providing public information during referendum campaigns and its oversight function in relation to the Electoral Register including its accurateness and completeness.

·         Recent changes in the maintenance of the electoral register include the register currently updated on a continuous basis and online registration.

·         There were 51,451 electors on the Electoral register for County Roscommon on 8^th March 2024, the date of the recent Referendums. Since the beginning of 2024, 2,529 applications were received on checktheregister.ie, the online registration system. This included new registrations, changes of address and updating of details including PPSN and eircodes. It is recommended that all applications be made through Check the Register online portal.

·         There are 1260 applications on hand to be processed and work is ongoing to update these.

·         All of the recent modifications to the electoral register are in preparation for a new single national electoral register. The successful tenderer is due to be appointed next month and the migration of data from the individual registers to the single register will take place from January 2025 to July 2026 when the new system will be operational.  

·         The franchise section in Roscommon continues to engage with the public to update their register details and have facilitated the new provision that 16/17 year olds can pre-register by visiting three post-primary schools and circa. 400 students registered to vote.  ‘Pop-up’ registration days were held in Castlerea and Strokestown libraries.

·         The key dates for the forthcoming elections were outlined to the Members, contingent on the polling date being confirmed as 7^th June:

o   Polling Day Orders should be made by 12^th April

o   The electoral register will be open for new registrations and updates until 22^nd April, when the file will be sent to the printers for issue of polling cards.

o   Further changes to the register will be facilitated thereafter up to Monday 20^th May on a ‘balancing list’. Change of address within a Municipal District Area cannot be facilitated on this balancing list.

o   The closing date for applications for Special and Postal votes will be Saturday 11^th May

o   The Nomination period for receipt of candidate nominations will be Saturday to 12 noon on Saturday 18^th May.

o   Printing of the ballot papers will commence on Tuesday 21^st May

o   Postal Votes will be issued on Thursday 23^rd May.

·         Following the recent revision of Dáil Boundary constituencies by the Electoral Amendment Act 2023, all of County Roscommon will now be included in the Roscommon Galway Constituency. 6,130 electors in eighteen electoral divisions in North Roscommon will move from the Sligo Leitrim Constituency to the Roscommon Galway one. 32 electoral divisions previously part of the Roscommon Galway constituency are returning to the East Galway constituency. All of the changes will take effect from the dissolution of the current Dáil term.

Members acknowledged Ms. Conneely’s presentation, claiming the online application process created a more efficiently managed register.

 A number of questions were raised, including:

·         Have persons outside of the country on holiday on polling day, a right to be issued with a postal vote? Who is entitled to a postal vote?

·         What was the procedure with people registering and voting from a Nursing Home where they are normally resident?

·         A request was made for candidates to receive a hard or paper copy of the electoral register.

·         Can a change of address be facilitated online?

·         Are all nationalities entitled to vote in the forthcoming local elections?

·         Are PPSN numbers compulsory when registering to vote?

·         Can the director elaborate on the pre-registration process for 16 and 17 year olds?

·         Who is the lead authority for the new single registration system?

The Director of Services and Martina Flanagan from the franchise section responded to the queries raised -

·         Dublin City Council are the lead authority in respect of the new single national electoral register. Each County Council, or registration authority, will have access to the system to update details for their own county.

·         The polling stations or amalgamation of polling booths is matter for the Courts Service.

·         Regarding pre-registration of voters age 16 or 17, the applicants information is stored on a system and is automatically transferred onto the register on that voter becoming eighteen years of age.

·         All information including changes of address can be amended online but must be verified by the relevant registration authority.

·         An applicant’s PPSN number must be provided in respect of all new applicants for the electoral register who are applying online. If it is not provided, a hardcopy form must be signed and witnessed by a Garda, local authority officer or doctor.

·         A ‘soft’ or electronic copy of the electoral register is provided to each candidate with Councillors receiving an allowance for copying of the register. No hard copy of the register will be issued to candidates.

·         A person on holiday on polling day is not entitled to a postal vote. Those entitled to a postal vote include persons who due to circumstances of occupation are not able to vote on the day, polling station staff, Defence Forces staff etc.

·         Persons normally resident in Nursing Homes are entitled to vote, once included on the Special Voters list. Polling will be carried out by a member of the Courts Service staff on behalf of the Returning Officer.

·         All nationalities were entitled to vote in a local election who are ordinarily resident in the county and whose names appear on the electoral register.