Unsealed ballot box, Cork N W

cornbb · 25-02-2011 5:01pm

RTE have picked up on it, nice one OP.

Cork County Sheriff Michael O'Driscoll has said an unsealed ballot box at a polling station in Ballincollig was immediately sealed once it was brought to the attention of staff by a voter this morning.
Mark O'Donoghue from Muskerry Estate in Ballincollig had just voted at his local polling station at around 11am when he said his four-year-old son Ruairí opened the ballot box, which had not been properly sealed.
Mr O'Donoghue said he immediately brought this to the attention of the polling staff and to a garda on duty at the polling station.
County Sheriff Michael O'Driscoll said he could not say why the ballot box had not been sealed but once alerted, the box was immediately sealed properly.
It is understood there were 65 votes in the box at the time

25-02-2011 5:01pm

Taken from http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0225/election_tracker.html

1551 Cork County Sheriff Michael O'Driscoll has said an unsealed ballot box at a polling station in Ballincollig was immediately sealed once it was brought to the attention of staff by a voter this morning.

Mark O'Donoghue from Muskerry Estate in Ballincollig had just voted at his local polling station at around 11am when he said his four-year-old son Ruairí opened the ballot box, which had not been properly sealed.

Mr O'Donoghue said he immediately brought this to the attention of the polling staff and to a garda on duty at the polling station.

County Sheriff Michael O'Driscoll said he could not say why the ballot box had not been sealed but once alerted, the box was immediately sealed properly.

It is understood there were 65 votes in the box at the time.

25-02-2011 5:03pm

mikom wrote: »

I was wondering would someone spot that! Fair play!

edanto · 25-02-2011 5:04pm

Well done on pointing it out and getting it sorted.

Zzippy · 25-02-2011 5:05pm

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Rte have have an update in their election coverage to say that a kid in Ballincollig opened a ballot box as it was unsealed.

Scroll down the page and you see a pic of John Gormless with a guy in a yellow morphsuit jogging behind him:

John Gormley is pictured on his way to vote while being shadowed by a member of the 'Irish Lemmings Group'. Not sure what their policies are...

WTF?

Riskymove · 25-02-2011 5:06pm

Zzippy wrote: »

Scroll down the page and you see a pic of John Gormless with a guy in a yellow morphsuit jogging behind him:

WTF?

those guys in the yellow suits have been part of the FG candidate's campaign (not Lucinda!) I think his name is Murphy

johndoe99 · 25-02-2011 5:07pm

i voted today in barracks street, waterford. It didn't bother me at the time, but after reading this post, i recalled that the ballot box i used was also not sealed (it was a tin box, that looked about 20 years old), it was quite full and when i had to push my paper in the lid rattled ajar.

Also, this was my first time voting, at the back of the card i was sent, it stated the various ID and so forth i'd need to vote. But I was NOT asked to show any identification of who I was. Is this normal ?

shoes34 · 25-02-2011 5:09pm

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Same in Dublin South. Looked fairly dodgy, I have to say.

wonder will this get a mention too and how many other ballot boxes around the country are left unsealed?

imme · 25-02-2011 5:12pm

In the past all boxes were metal, sealed with wax and seals and locked with locks. Have things changed.

They keep tally of the numbers so that ballot papers in the box adds up to the number that are counted at the count centre, when the boxes are unlocked and opened.

You could contact the returning officer, should be city/ county sheriff, and available on internet.

Riskymove · 25-02-2011 5:15pm

imme wrote: »

In the past all boxes were metal, sealed with wax and seals and locked with locks. Have things changed.

they were still that type where I voted

They keep tally of the numbers so that ballot papers in the box adds up to the number that are counted at the count centre, when the boxes are unlocked and opened.

yes I think its important to note there are other safeguards

pedro ferio-vti · 25-02-2011 5:24pm

this would never have happened if we had eVoting.... break the machines out of storage!

savina10 · 25-02-2011 5:26pm

In my voting booth, there was a COLOURING PENCIL tied on with string to fill out the sheet. Felt strangely irreverant - maybe we can use ogham stones or charcoal markings in the next election.

county man · 25-02-2011 5:28pm

cornbb wrote: »

RTE have picked up on it, nice one OP.

Yes well done.:)

im invisible · 25-02-2011 5:30pm

goat2 wrote: »

can i make a complaint about not having a vote, since had a vote in the last general and local, name was not on register, yet i had vote last time

heard on the radio today (LMFM) that if you've been living at the same address for 20 years (dont know if this applies to you?) and have previously been on the register, but are not now, you can swear an oath that you are who you say you are, and be allowed to vote

huskerdu · 25-02-2011 5:33pm

johndoe99 wrote: »

Also, this was my first time voting, at the back of the card i was sent, it stated the various ID and so forth i'd need to vote. But I was NOT asked to show any identification of who I was. Is this normal ?

Yes, it is normal. There is no obligation to ask for ID but they can if they want to, or feel that they should.

daviddob · 25-02-2011 5:46pm

username123 wrote: »

2 fails here. Not only should that ballot box have been sealed, you should not have been allowed to use a recording device inside the polling station.

I am workin as presiding officer today. Where does it say in rule book about recording device guys? Ye sound very sure

seamus · 25-02-2011 5:55pm

imme wrote: »

In the past all boxes were metal, sealed with wax and seals and locked with locks. Have things changed.

Last two or three votes that I've done the boxes have been similar to the picture - large plastic affairs, sealed with a zip tie and a slot in the middle.

I do remember the steel boxes though from my first time voting in 2002.

Riskymove · 25-02-2011 6:01pm

seamus wrote: »

Last two or three votes that I've done the boxes have been similar to the picture - large plastic affairs, sealed with a zip tie and a slot in the middle.

I do remember the steel boxes though from my first time voting in 2002.

I have just remembered that when electronic voting came in a few local authorities got ahead of themselves and got rid of the old steel boxes

they then had to source new ones, perhaps that is part of it

ednwireland · 25-02-2011 6:07pm

up here in donegal they have metal boxes with big padlocks on them

proper job !

goat2 · 25-02-2011 6:16pm

im invisible wrote: »

heard on the radio today (LMFM) that if you've been living at the same address for 20 years (dont know if this applies to you?) and have previously been on the register, but are not now, you can swear an oath that you are who you say you are, and be allowed to vote

I have made lots of phone calls and checked if he was registered via the internet and he is, so someone left him out of the local list, and we got a good respones, alls well that ends well. and he has been at this address with 23 yrsi do hope others who find themselves in this position will do same,

a5y · 25-02-2011 6:29pm

ednwireland wrote: »

up here in donegal they have metal boxes with big padlocks on them

proper job !

Glad to hear things are done properly there. Where I was voting it was the "this think looks like a shredder humped a kickbin" style boxes in use. I didn't see this thread until I came back from voting. (Dublin West constituency, Laurel Lodge) so I didn't think to see if the lids were held on by gravity and apathy, but there was an alert looking ban garda there.

I really wish there'd be a test run for polling stations the day before. There's enough of a gap between elections and referendum for bad habits of forgetfulness to trip up even an experienced organiser.

I can tolerate mistakes being made, but not when they're made because of either indifference or a lack of simple preparation or practice.

Someone else · 25-02-2011 6:32pm

It got better.....

I went back to the polling station and broached the attitude with the officer, we had a conversation about it and the potential for fraud, e-voting as a prime example and of course it would never happen.......Honesty and all that.

I pointed out our honest politicians etc!

Anyway it turns out the county sheriff turned up and conversations etc followed and all was fine.
BUT apparently wax was sent with the boxes and he (the sheriff) said there was no need to use it, that regular cable ties were sufficient. WTF>>>>

either wax is required for open and fully transparent voting or it's not. I believe not even security cable ties were used (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_seal)
At least this number/letter pattern could be checked at the count station...

Edit, I didn't mention that the presiding officer lied in front of a Garda too. He claimed he immediately went "with me" to the room and checked and sealed the box. I called him a liar and asked the Garda to witness that fact...... He did not retract but said later he went down after I left......

county man · 25-02-2011 6:40pm

Someone else wrote: »

It got better.....

I went back to the polling station and broached the attitude with the officer, we had a conversation about it and the potential for fraud, e-voting as a prime example and of course it would never happen.......Honesty and all that.

I pointed out our honest politicians etc!

Anyway it turns out the county sheriff turned up and conversations etc followed and all was fine.
BUT apparently wax was sent with the boxes and he (the sheriff) said there was no need to use it, that regular cable ties were sufficient. WTF>>>>

either wax is required for open and fully transparent voting or it's not. I believe not even security cable ties were used (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_seal)
At least this number/letter pattern could be checked at the count station...

Absolutely shocking!!!:(:(Wonder if this has happened anywhere else and not beeen publicised??

pyro jim · 25-02-2011 6:51pm

Down with this sort of thing!!

grizzlyadams · 25-02-2011 6:52pm

:Well done OP for this , isn't it unreal what goes on and I suppose a reflection of the bigger picture:eek:

ixtlan · 25-02-2011 7:20pm

Someone else wrote: »

BUT apparently wax was sent with the boxes and he (the sheriff) said there was no need to use it, that regular cable ties were sufficient. WTF>>>>

More waste in the public service?! Either use it or stop sending it at extra cost to the taxpayer and throwing it away unused!

Ix.

Eliot Rosewater · 25-02-2011 7:32pm

I'm worried about this now. I voted in a polling station across the road from the OP.

Well done for getting it out there. These people are being paid €500+ for their work today - how bloody incompetent would you have to be to forget to seal the box?

There were electoral problems in the UK last year in their election and Dimblebey of the BBC rightly roasted the girl from the Electoral Commission for the problem. Elections are like the cornerstone of democracy, and incompetence like this should never ever be tolerated. But I will be very surprised if RTE hold someone to account for this.

Well done again.

25-02-2011 7:36pm

I presume Sky and the BBC are covering this (covering the election I mean). Might be an idea to contact them, RTE will probably just gloss over it.

county man · 25-02-2011 8:10pm

Ismael Mushy Cell wrote: »

I presume Sky and the BBC are covering this. Might be an idea to contact them, RTE will probably just gloss over it.

No mention of this on RTE TV or Radio whatsoever.:(

Someone else · 25-02-2011 8:24pm

county man wrote: »

No mention of this on RTE TV or Radio whatsoever.:(

Time = 1551 mentioned and me "outed" :P

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0225/election_tracker.html

Unsealed ballot box, Cork N W

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