Ballotbox.ie now open for your votes*

BallotBox.ie: Brian

Ballotbox.ie is now open for votes from Irish citizens abroad



If you’re an Irish person living outside Ireland – have your say in the General Election here

Irish law prevents you from voting in the General Election – unlike almost any other EU country, and many other democracies like Canada, the UK, New Zealand and Australia.

A vote at Ballotbox.ie may not be a real vote, but it’s the next best thing.

Ballotbox.ie will remain open until 12:00 GMT on Tuesday 22nd.

Only those living outside Ireland will able to cast a ballot.

The results will be published on February 23rd

Anyone with any advice on how best to get this information to as many Irish people as possible get in touch info@ballotbox.ie

Sir Oxman

Good idea.

On the subject of non-residents voting in GE's here I'd be in favour of some franchise to Irish citizens who emigrate for say within 5 years of a GE (ie, emigrants since 2006 could vote in this election)

I saw a tv program last night and some guy THIRTY FIVE years in England was moaning that he wanted a say. Another was 16 years away. Eh, just no.

BallotBox.ie: Brian

gambiaman

We don't advocate any one solution but obviously Ireland is a small country and there are a number of different ways we could balance out those concerns.

In the UK you lose your right to vote once you are gone 15 years.

Brian

leincar

Just a quick question. I work abroad a lot, so concievably once I land abroad I can vote. I will be in Athens tomorrow and Sochi in Russia on Saturday, so I could in theory vote twice, once my IP address is showing up from abroad?

BallotBox.ie: Brian

We cannot be 100% sure that everyone who votes is not voting back home aswell. We are a voluntary group of emigrants who wanted to raise this issue higher up the agenda.

nesf

Is this not open to huge abuse though if some group decides to take the piss with it? i.e. Sinn Fein northern supporters piling on to vote SF or some random British site deciding to have a bit of fun by voting en masse for some randomer?

How have you set up to prevent/mitigate this or is it based on an honour system?

BallotBox.ie: Brian

We have a number of techniques in operation to prevent this happening. Honour has a large part to play but we have enrolled the help of a number of specialists in this field.