Willie O'Dea - admits electoral register a mess

ArthurDent

From http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/0526/breaking31.htm


up to 170000 people may have been disenfranchised for this election :eek:

170000 - holy sh!te - please please please tell me that some heads will roll.

gonk

Individual citizens have a responsibility in this too. Given all the publicity around this in the last year and the widespread reporting of the fact that the register was being revamped, anyone who didn't check their registration shouldn't be surprised if they lost their vote.

Colonel Sanders

ArthurDent wrote:

170000 - holy sh!te - please please please tell me that some heads will roll.

probably not, despiet 12m being spent on updating the register and it still being a mess not one person will lose their job or lose promotion or be disciplined.

mike65

Gonks got a point, though I've heard of cases where someone checked the register saw they were listed but turned out not to be! And others checked "manualy" at thier local registration office and were on, then checked again online later and were not shown as registered.

Its a mess, the solution is simple. PPS number = voter registation. Then you can vote anywhere as well (and only the once, as your PPS number will be checked off on the PPS database which will be the new voter register).

Mike.

miju

gonk has a point to an extent.

my other half father recieved three polling cards and a few other freiends recieved 2 each. another family member recieved one for clane AND clones. then there were plenty of reports on thurs / fri on the radio about people getting multiple polling cards also

while the people have a responsibility for making sure they are on the register they sure as hell aint responsible for the above

nesf

gonk wrote:

Individual citizens have a responsibility in this too. Given all the publicity around this in the last year and the widespread reporting of the fact that the register was being revamped, anyone who didn't check their registration shouldn't be surprised if they lost their vote.

I agree tbh.

mike65 wrote:

Its a mess, the solution is simple. PPS number = voter registation. Then you can vote anywhere as well (and only the once, as your PPS number will be checked off on the PPS database which will be the new voter register).

I assume by voting anywhere you mean within the constituency, and there would be some form of online database that numbers were checked off of?

flogen

mike65 wrote:

Gonks got a point, though I've heard of cases where someone checked the register saw they were listed but turned out not to be! And others checked "manualy" at thier local registration office and were on, then checked again online later and were not shown as registered.

Its a mess, the solution is simple. PPS number = voter registation. Then you can vote anywhere as well (and only the once, as your PPS number will be checked off on the PPS database which will be the new voter register).

Mike.

Yup - the first act of the next Government should be to wipe the electoral register clean and start afresh, probably with one based on the PPS system.

One question in relation to that, though... what about EU citizens working here? They have PPS numbers but may not be entitled to vote (unless resident for a few years, I think).
Can they be distinguished from eligible voters?

Aesop

Who had responsibility for this mess (as well as a certain water supply fiasco)?

Dick Roche, who incidently topped the poll in Wicklow.

If the Irish electorate don't punish those who are ultimately responsible why would it change.

You get the government you deserve.

nesf

flogen wrote:

Yup - the first act of the next Government should be to wipe the electoral register clean and start afresh, probably with one based on the PPS system.

Isn't there some legal/confidentiality problem associated with it (combined with the fact that not everyone with a PPS number is eligible to vote in every election)?

Akrasia

nesf wrote:

Isn't there some legal/confidentiality problem associated with it (combined with the fact that not everyone with a PPS number is eligible to vote in every election)?

Well, not everyone on the electoral register is eligible to vote in every constituency...

The confidentiality problem probably has something to do with the disgraceful practise of the government selling electoral registry data to marketing companies. They shouldn't be doing that anyway, so that shouldn't be an issue

The PPS system has more than enough information to be able to distinguish between eligible voters and non eligible voters, it would just take a little thing called 'competence' which means it's never gonna happen.

mike65

Well that could be overcome, its clear who's allowed to vote - Irish/uk can vote in national elections no-one else can. Irish and all other eu voters can excercise the right in local and european elections. Only Irish can vote in referendums and for the President. (I think I have that right)

Mike.

redspider

mike65 wrote:

Its a mess, the solution is simple. PPS number = voter registation. Then you can vote anywhere as well (and only the once, as your PPS number will be checked off on the PPS database which will be the new voter register).

But Mike, this requires a computer system, and we as a country only accept 2000BC methods that involve a pen and paper as they are more secure (cough, cough) ! ;-) (jolly sarcastic mode on in case of doubt).

Also, not to pour water on your PPS number idea but I know of some people that have 'acquired' more than one PPS number. It is not unqiuely based on a person's DNA, alas - is that a solution !?!

> If the Irish electorate don't punish those who are ultimately responsible why would it change.
> You get the government you deserve.

Exactly.

Its ironic, we always hear of how people are dissillusioned with politics and politicians, etc. I think more and more that people in Ireland should be dissillusioned with the electorate, ie. the voters. We are in charge of the system!

Redspider

Crash

But compare the number who've acquired a second pps number with the number (including myself) who've ended up with multiple voting cards.

I tore mine in half. how many others did.

Or how many others with pps numbers were disenfranchised?

System should have been put in place a long time ago, its a disgrace that it hasnt, and its an example of the short mindedness of an irish government in the past long while that this hasnt been a point to move on.

is_that_so

Well they can always blame the last incompetent government.

Yes there is a civic duty and there should be very little sympathy for those who didn't check but there was a plan to fix it. They had a plan, a vague woolly plan to fix it and everything would be fine come polling day.

Victor

gonk wrote:

Individual citizens have a responsibility in this too.

Many people did check, only to find themselves deleted in the subsequent correction.