Dual residency / last minute constituency changes / absentee ballots - why not?

hatrickpatrick

One of the most frequently used excuses for low voter turnout among young people is that it's hard for them to predict whether they'll be at home or in their college town on election date and register accordingly. Now I'm not convinced that this is the main reason for low youth turnout, but insofar as it's a factor at all, is there any reason we couldn't implement a system in which people could register both their work / study constituency and their home constituency, and only indicate very close to election time which one they would vote in?

It would be hard to organise administratively at first, but would it not be worth that hassle to potentially improve Ireland's rather dismal turnout rate, particularly for referenda?

And in the absence of such a system being workable, could we not have an absentee ballot wherein if you were in a different part of the country on election day, you could still vote remotely in your home constituency?

oscarBravo

Students get a postal vote.

hatrickpatrick

oscarBravo wrote: »

Students get a postal vote.

O_o
Do they? When was this brought in? It certainly didn't exist during the general election in 2007, or if it did, a lot of my older friends somehow weren't aware of it...

oscarBravo

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/government_in_ireland/elections_and_referenda/voting/registering_to_vote.html#leb892

You may also be eligible for a postal vote if you cannot go to a polling station because:

[...]

• You are studying full time at an educational institution in Ireland, which is away from your home address where you are registered

Been the case for as long as I can remember. The students' unions have a lot to answer for, if students don't know this.

munchkin_utd

irelands "dismal" turnout rate is directly attributable to the fact that theres more people registered in many counties than there are people living there !
So if you have 100% turnout of the people living in say Cavan Monaghan, it only registers as a turnout of 80% of those registered.

Its reckoned theres 500000+ too many on the register, with dead people, emigrants and multiple entries rampant.
Also foreign nationals in there who do not have an entitlement to vote in referenda or general elections

LoonyLovegood

Students can have postal votes, but to have a postal vote you have to be in your home constituency during the week three weeks before the election, which can be difficult.

It's also legal for students to be registered in their home and college constituencies, which is why you see places like Galway with massive registered voters, but low comparative turn outs at times.

LoonyLovegood

Students can have postal votes, but to have a postal vote you have to be in your home constituency during the week three weeks before the election, which can be difficult.

It's also legal for students to be registered in their home and college constituencies, which is why you see places like Galway with massive registered voters, but low comparative turn outs at times.

plodder

I suspect also the reason why we don't have a more general form of postal voting, like the UK, is because the requirements on ballot secrecy imposed by the constitution are quite onerous and wouldn't scale well if huge numbers of people wanted to avail of the opportunity.

In theory, voting in a polling station in another part of the country might work, but there would be enormous practical difficulties, involved with shipping ballot papers around the country before and after polling.

plodder

I suspect also the reason why we don't have a more general form of postal voting, like the UK, is because the requirements on ballot secrecy imposed by the constitution are quite onerous and wouldn't scale well if huge numbers of people wanted to avail of the opportunity.

In theory, voting in a polling station in another part of the country might work, but there would be enormous practical difficulties, involved with shipping ballot papers around the country before and after polling.