Thursday polling day????

marie_85

Mods, if this isn't the right forum, please feel free to move it.

Basically, Bertie has suggested a Thursday polling day for the upcoming election. As a student myself, I feel that by doing this, he is essentially taking away the right to vote from students and other workers who live away from home. I'm not going to comment on his reasons for doing this I'm simply just going to draw your attention to an online petition asking for a Friday or weekend polling day.

Link: http://www.petitiononline.com/Thursno/petition.html

Please take the time to sign this petition yourselves, and pass the link on to friends or relatives or strangers etc.

ballooba

It is a worthwhile campaign. I am lucky as a student that while i live away from home, I have lived in the same house for the last three elections (02,04,07). I am registered at this address because i will be staying here and it effectively is my home.

I don't think others should be forced to vote at their term addresses. The candidates they would be voting for would not be those representing them or their families.

mikemac

Can you do postal votes? I know the UK and USA allow this.
I'm thinking the only people in Ireland who postal votes are the Defense Forces serving overseas and maybe embassy staff but could be wrong.

gandalf

It obvious that Bertie doesn't want the Educated Youth to vote on their future. An extremely cynical move especially considering falling numbers of voters at the polls.

Unfortunately online petitions are normally worth the paper they are written on, but good luck with it. Personally I would prefer voting to occur over the two days of the weekend to give as many people the chance to vote as possible.

zepp

Hi thanks for posting the link to the petition. It has got good reaction so far. With both labour and the greens coming out in favour of it. Indeed if you look at some of the names. Some TD's have signed it. Dan Boyle, Eamon Gilmore, Ciaran Cuffe, Finian McGrath, Aengus ÓSnodaigh, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Hope Bertie pays attention and takes the sensible option of a weekend vote. More hear. http://www.irishelection.com/weekend-vote-petition/

Thanks

KenHy

It also should be pointed out that a mid-May election will clash with most students exams, whatever chance there was of getting people to follow their civic duty will be gone. Bertie should hang his head in shame if he effectively bans an entire section of society from voting.

brianthebard

Oh ****, if it were the 18th as was mentioned in an rte article, that's right on my last exam! Such balls.

Stephen

I've signed the petition. I haven't been a student for a few years but it is a good cause. Spread the word folks.

Nightwish

I signed the petition, as I myself was a student voting in the last general election, and I was able to get home and vote.

Its nice to see that Bertie would rather benefit the Dubs who are heading off to the country for the weekend, to their 2nd homes and such, than commuters and students.

ateam

Nightwish wrote:

I signed the petition, as I myself was a student voting in the last general election, and I was able to get home and vote.

Its nice to see that Bertie would rather benefit the Dubs who are heading off to the country for the weekend, to their 2nd homes and such, than commuters and students.

He took the decision to choose which section are more likely to vote. His decision is pragmatic. I'm hoping to go for a weekend away in May and having the election on Friday would mean i can't vote. So should we start a petition to have the vote on Thursday!

brianthebard

ateam wrote:

He took the decision to choose which section are more likely to vote. His decision is pragmatic. I'm hoping to go for a weekend away in May and having the election on Friday would mean i can't vote. So should we start a petition to have the vote on Thursday!

Why? You are planning on being away for one random weekend. No one can account for these one affs. But there are ten's of thousands of students who the Taoiseach knows are not going to be at home and yet he wants to call an election on a date he knows will be inconvient or impossible for them to vote on. Sounds like you're being a bit selfish.

Stephen

Not to mention that it's at the height of exam time too :mad:

brianthebard

Yup I have my last exam on the 18th, no way I could be home for voting.

Glenbhoy

brianthebard wrote:

Yup I have my last exam on the 18th, no way I could be home for voting.

There's talk the dail might not be recalled again and he may go early - would the 10th suit better? Apparently it's all about the illegality of many constituencies due to population changes.

brianthebard

Not really I have an exam the 11th. Tbh unless it was after the 19th at least it would be very inconvient for me. Obviously some people will be finished earlier and some later. Does anyone know anything about postal votes?

Coconut

I really hope the election is called on a Friday, but even if its not, don't you think the following information should be more widely known??

From the Citizens Information website
"You may also be eligible for a postal vote if you cannot go to a polling station because:

* of a physical illness or disability
* you are studying full time at an educational institution away from your home address where you are registered"

(Citizens living abroad don't qualify, unless in the diplomatic service.)

At this stage, you would have to apply to the Supplement to the Postal Voter's List. Probably best to sort this out quickly: "The latest date for receipt of applications is two days after the date of dissolution of the Dáil in the case of a general election or two days after the order appointing polling day for other elections or referenda."

I'd be interested to hear if many people take this up.

Edited to add: Here's the form I think you'll need, and you need to get your college to sign it too.

brianthebard

Thanks for that, I will almost certainly be applying for this if the election is held in May or sooner.

ninty9er

I think is't unlikely we'll see a May election now; so it doesn't really matter a whole lot.

Friday's still not going to suit everybody..I have college on Fridays straight after which I head to work...means I couldn't vote....turnout has dropped since Friday voting was introduced and probably stumped this country taking a more public service oriented direction by putting a coalition instead of single party government in the last time.

Get a postal vote or skip college for a day! Not like people go to every lecture they're supposed to anyway!!!

brianthebard

Its the middle of exams. I'm not skipping my finals to vote.

ninty9er

Until the nurses go fu*k themselves with their greedy claims, there ain't gonna be no election, so I'm thinking mid June/early July. Mid June rules me out due to holidays so there's still an issue of people not being able to vote

Villain

ninty9er wrote:

Until the nurses go fu*k themselves with their greedy claims, there ain't gonna be no election, so I'm thinking mid June/early July. Mid June rules me out due to holidays so there's still an issue of people not being able to vote

Post that in the Nurses strike thread and I'll reply to it, not dragging this off topic but I'm not going to let it go unnoticed either.

The_Minister

Weekend voting is a very bad idea, because:
1) Many students have exams on Saturdays (and Sunday is out of the question)
2) That time of year many people go on weekend breaks.
3) It makes the cost of the whole election rise by 50%

ballooba

ninty9er wrote:

Until the nurses go fu*k themselves with their greedy claims, there ain't gonna be no election, so I'm thinking mid June/early July. Mid June rules me out due to holidays so there's still an issue of people not being able to vote

You seem to be a very confused chappy. Fianna Fail are supposed to support workers. It's your PD friends who are supposed to get hot and bothered about things like that. Are you sure you're in the right party?

ninty9er

irish1 wrote:

Post that in the Nurses strike thread and I'll reply to it, not dragging this off topic but I'm not going to let it go unnoticed either.

I've just spent a week locked in a political debate about VRT...I have no intention of re-posting or going further into it!!

Zaph

I believe that one of the reasons why they're looking at a Thursday election as opposed to a Friday is that following the electoral register clean-up they found that many people studying or working away from home have re-registered in the constituency they now live in as opposed to their home constituency, and so it's not as big an issue as they previously believed. As a person from and living in Dublin, I personally think Friday is a terrible day to have an election. Many people go out after work on a Friday, and on previous occasions when it was held on a Friday the numbers out around town didn't seem to diminish that much. Admittedly some like me may have been in a position to vote before work, but countless people I spoke to weren't giving up their night out so they could go home and vote. Lazy, I know, and there's an argument that people who care so little don't deserve a vote, but that's human nature and I doubt it was just confined to Dublin.

Villain

ninty9er wrote:

I've just spent a week locked in a political debate about VRT...I have no intention of re-posting or going further into it!!

Well why bother posting sweeping statments if your not going to support them, it just looks ignorant or silly?

K-9

Does seem to be some conspiracy theories going on about Bertie here

There is the postal vote and there was a lot of publicity about the voting register last year.

The truth was out there :rolleyes:

Jonny Arson

This is brilliant, I just have to highlight this..... http://www.rte.ie/news/2002/0919/6news/6news56_1c.ram%27

Interview with Comrade Bertie 'man of the working people' Ahern before referendum in 2002 wrote:

''Interviewer: Why did you pick Saturday as polling day?
Taoiseach: The view of the government…was we should give Saturday a chance…We have never done that in this country so hopefully we can maximise a very high vote. There is a lot of third level institutions in this country now and Saturday brings them home. there is a lot of other people around the country working all week and Saturday will bring them home to their constituencies
Interviewer: Isn’t that a risk with so much apathy?
Taoiseach: This should help them, young people particularly the students unions and others have said they need to be facilitated…by going on a Saturday it gives them an opportunity to turn out''

Stick to your laurels now Bertie!

Our man in Havana

What is the latest date the election can be held? Can he go into June or even July?

jank

've just spent a week locked in a political debate about VRT

Is this online?

Chakar

Bond-007 wrote:

What is the latest date the election can be held? Can he go into June or even July?

It has to be held before the 4th of June.