Election on a weekday!

Baralis1

I'm just wondering if anyone else has a problem with the election being on a Thursday. Like many I assume, I am away from home during the week for work. I had no choice but to get a job away from home due to the current climate and I stay there during the week but my vote is at home where I spend weekends and any time I'm not working. This normally isn't a problem with most elections being on Fridays but to have it on a Thursday is really unfair I think. Is there a reason for this? It looks to me like it is to suit the older voter.

Baralis1

Sorry, mods move to election page please.

Firegaurd

Why would Thursday suit older people as opposed to friday ?

Baralis1

Because they are less likely to be students or working away from home. Its mostly younger workers who aren't in established long term jobs that are in the position I am in. But of course I am generalising and I am sure there are some older people in the same suitation.

RubyRoss

Not only did they put it on a week day but there were only 48hrs notice given to apply for a postal vote at the end of September. I don't understand why people are not more outraged about this treatment.

There was a campaign to let emigrants vote (a tad ludicrous in my view) but there should be a bigger campaign to make voting accessible for the considerable population of students and workers who are away from home for a part of the year/working week.

Sierra Oscar

And not so long ago Fine Gael were attempting to push through a private members bill in the Oireachtas which would only prohibit elections being held at the weekend . . .

donal2000

Makes no odds to me what day it's on. Not voting for the joke of a presidency campaign but will vote on the judges pay, etc.

Baralis1

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

And not so long ago Fine Gael were attempting to push through a private members bill in the Oireachtas which would only prohibit elections being held at the weekend . . .

I never heard about that. What do you mean, only allow elections to be held Mon to Thur?

goose2005

RubyRoss wrote: »

Not only did they put it on a week day but there were only 48hrs notice given to apply for a postal vote at the end of September. I don't understand why people are not more outraged about this treatment.

There was a campaign to let emigrants vote (a tad ludicrous in my view) but there should be a bigger campaign to make voting accessible for the considerable population of students and workers who are away from home for a part of the year/working week.

Why? Emigrants are still citizens, and allowing non-resident citizens to vote is the norm internationally.

Baralis1

goose2005 wrote: »

Why? Emigrants are still citizens, and allowing non-resident citizens to vote is the norm internationally.

Is it the norm internationally? I couldn't imagine it is. I'd be against emigrants voting. If they are not normally resident here, they shouldn't have a say in how the state is run. If that were the case, the 1.5 million people in northern Ireland entitled to Irish citizenship and whatever many million Irish passport holders living abroad could potentially vote and have a bigger say than citizens actually living in the country.

FreudianSlippers

Baralis1 wrote: »

Is it the norm internationally? I couldn't imagine it is. I'd be against emigrants voting. If they are not normally resident here, they shouldn't have a say in how the state is run. If that were the case, the 1.5 million people in northern Ireland entitled to Irish citizenship and whatever many million Irish passport holders living abroad could potentially vote and have a bigger say than citizens actually living in the country.

The U.S. does overseas voting, both military and non-military citizens.

Baralis1

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

The U.S. does overseas voting, both military and non-military citizens.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/living/overseas_voting/overseas_voting_4754.html

True, it's allowed in the US but I still do not agree with it, unless somebody is abroad on a short-term basis only or on state duty like military or consular jobs. I mean if the millions of US citizens abroad voted, they would have a powerful say in US politics in a country they don't live in. I'm speculating but I'd say the effect would be bigger in Ireland as I imagine a larger proportion of our population have emigrated plus there is the 1.5 million possible voters in N.I.

RubyRoss

goose2005 wrote: »

Why? Emigrants are still citizens, and allowing non-resident citizens to vote is the norm internationally.

The 'norm internationally' refers not to countries like Ireland with large emigrant populations but to the norm of select wealthy nations with established overseas populations (mainly military). I'm against it for the same reason as Baralis1. Our population ratio would allow people who do not live here to have an unprecedented and disproportional say in the running of the country (unprecedented, that is, after independence).

I have family abroad who keep up with affairs in Ireland - are even passionate about the state of the nation - but they do not live here so why should they be entitled to vote here?

It's much more significant that a lot of Irish residents are excluded from voting - or at least put at extraordinary expense and difficulty - just to get to their polling station.

Black Swan

Baralis1 wrote: »

Sorry, mods move to election page please.

Done.

allanb49

If you are living away from home is there anything you can do at this stage?

gizmo555

allanb49 wrote: »

If you are living away from home . . .

For the purposes of voter registration, home is where you are "ordinarily resident" and you must make a declaration on the forms that the address you give is where you reside. You should have registered where you live. In fact, you are not entitled to be registered anywhere else.

bijapos

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

And not so long ago Fine Gael were attempting to push through a private members bill in the Oireachtas which would only prohibit elections being held at the weekend . . .

When in opposition FG critiscised FF for having elections on Thursdays, saying it should be held on a Friday. Eventually they are held on a Friday, then FG get into power and what do they do? Yes, a complete U-turn and have them on Thursday instead. Two faced in the extreme.

Friday is easier for most people, there are a lot of people working away from home all week and Thursday makes it impossible for them to vote. The general consensus is that FG did it to make it harder for younger people to vote as it was shown they were more likely to vote Norris/Higgins. This was before the Norris vote collapsed and his first withdrawal.

Whatever it sahould be made as convenient as possible for people to vote, Friday is easier than Thursday for more people.

A lot of countries have elections on Sunday, polls are open from 8.00-18.00, no idea if it would work here.

Baralis1 wrote: »

Is it the norm internationally? I couldn't imagine it is. I'd be against emigrants voting. If they are not normally resident here, they shouldn't have a say in how the state is run. If that were the case, the 1.5 million people in northern Ireland entitled to Irish citizenship and whatever many million Irish passport holders living abroad could potentially vote and have a bigger say than citizens actually living in the country.

The French are allowed to vote in Presidential elections, not in parliamentary ones. Incidentally a number of seats in the French Senate are reserved for the "emigrant vote", a woman resident in Ireland for 30 years, Helene Mouret, was voted into the French Senate a few weeks ago.

As an aside, in 2007 at the first round of the French Presidential elections there were so many people queueing up here to vote that the Embassy in Dublin got permission to keep the ballot boxes open for an extra hour until everyone voted. The only stipulation was that they had to be on "French territory" so they opened the gates and several hundred French people stood around in the garden until they got the chance to vote!