We heart corruption

eoghan.geraghty

sioda wrote:

I get the feeling that everyone who is suggesting postal has not actually tried it

You're right sioda, I'm lucky in that regard, my voting station was at least 100m possibly even 120m away.
But my sister did, so I do know it does take time out of your evening.

But fair play to you for doing it, at least you don't give out without doing your part.
I reckon you're in the minority of the people in the same situation (not all are students ). Correct me if I'm wrong, in your experience.

PCros

PCros wrote:

Tryed it and it works for me!

Seeming as I was referring to Leitrim in my original post.It would seem that you dramatically missed the point.

Diamondmaker

Deleted User wrote:

Why the attack on Publicans?I voted for change and I am a publican.

No attack just a clear display of "corruption" every where in every day life. I know people , in every category I mentioned and some will still use corruption as a reason to vote against him.

Tom Dunne

shamblertine wrote:

I'm not doubting he was an incompetent buffon, but people seen from the start that he was short and didn't take him seriously.

Are you seriously saying people did not vote for Kenny because he was short?

shamblertine wrote:

And no ****ing way is Kenny 5'10, I'd say 5'8 max. If this country is to move forward at the next election then Kenny must go, otherwise we're ****ed.

Are you seriously arguing with me about Kenny's height? I picked 5'10" out of thin-air - I have not idea how tall he is.

PCros

DaBreno wrote:

Becasue I moved permanently. I was not going back to vote in my old constituancy. Can I assume you found it easy?

Again, I wonder why Bertie called it on a Thursday?

He never gave a reason last time...who cares if its Monday or any other day?

If you have moved permanantly you should have registered straight away if you care about politics and your new constituency not a few days before the election!

sioda

Eoghan hadn't even thought about people who were not students using postal votes but my experience is just painful.

Really wishing we could just inplement some proper computerised system that was not geographically dependent

PCros

Deleted User wrote:

Seeming as I was referring to Leitrim in my original post.It would seem that you dramatically missed the point.

Sorry there ya go...
http://www.leitrimcoco.ie/NR/rdonlyres/BAE007C6-5644-43D4-8B83-27C00E7C49AC/1616/CircumstanceOfOccupation.pdf

swingking

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned the security of sending the vote in the post, what's to stop someone getting your postal application

the postal service, as some of you may or may not know, is crap

so it could end up in someones house or could be opened by postal workers

eoghan.geraghty

sioda wrote:

Eoghan hadn't even thought about people who were not students using postal votes but my experience is just painful.

Really wishing we could just inplement some proper computerised system that was not geographically dependent

You've got it!
Computers to count votes!
I know where there's a load of 2nd hand ones going cheap:D

mickoneill30

swingking wrote:

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned the security of sending the vote in the post, what's to stop someone getting your postal application

the postal service, as some of you may or may not know, is crap

so it could end up in someones house or could be opened by postal workers

Fair enough. Don't vote then. It's amazing anybody posts stuff at all with all that post tampering going on. Don't know how people can rely on it.

sioda

I hear they are no good though

Swingking makes a great point and one that is closely related to this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055097869

I for one was not asked for ID

shamblertine

tom dunne wrote:

Are you seriously saying people did not vote for Kenny because he was short? .

Yes, subconsciously they didn't vote for him because he was short.

tom dunne wrote:

Are you seriously arguing with me about Kenny's height? I picked 5'10" out of thin-air - I have not idea how tall he is.

I think its obvious you have no idea how tall he is. Next you'll be telling me Fat Rabitte is 12 stone!

sioda

Yoy really want to be some sort of an eejit to vote for someone depending on thier physical size NO Mary Harney insinuations please

nesf

shamblertine wrote:

I think its obvious you have no idea how tall he is. Next you'll be telling me Fat Rabitte is 12 stone!

He is I swear. The camera just adds 4 or 5 stone...

PCros

swingking wrote:

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned the security of sending the vote in the post, what's to stop someone getting your postal application

the postal service, as some of you may or may not know, is crap

so it could end up in someones house or could be opened by postal workers

Lay off the nose candy......

Blackjack

swingking wrote:

I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned the security of sending the vote in the post, what's to stop someone getting your postal application

the postal service, as some of you may or may not know, is crap

so it could end up in someones house or could be opened by postal workers

How would you ever know?.

DaBreno

PCros wrote:

He never gave a reason last time...who cares if its Monday or any other day?

An election on a Monday. Have you told anyone else about this radical idea...?

PCros wrote:

If you have moved permanantly you should have registered straight away if you care about politics and your new constituency not a few days before the election!

No more than the our students, do you not think I had other things to do (having just moved)? Again, our Beuraucracy does not move as fast as most people would like.

Teg Veece

You can talk about Postal Votes all you want. At the end of the day, Bertie knew full well that by having the elections on a Thursday that he'd significantly reduce the student vote.

Blackjack

DaBreno wrote:

do you not think I had other things to do

this is where you lost all my sympathy - sorry, if you're too busy to register to vote, then who's problem is that?. Personally I think it's yours. You'd make enough time if you cared enough about it. No point in moaning about it now.

PCros

Teg Veece wrote:

You can talk about Postal Votes all you want. At the end of the day, Bertie knew full well that by having the elections on a Thursday that he'd significantly reduce the student vote.

How exactly?

DaBreno

shamblertine wrote:

Yes, subconsciously they didn't vote for him because he was short.

I think its obvious you have no idea how tall he is. Next you'll be telling me Fat Rabitte is 12 stone!

And our returned Leader is obviously the Olympic 100m champ!

DoubleJoe7

PCros wrote:

How exactly?

Plese, you know well that most people aren't informed enough to know how to postal vote - most people don't know how PR works judging by the "bluffers guide to voting" most papers had.

Ardent

First off, we should follow the contintental model - general elections should be held over two days at the weekend. Give everyone in the country a chance to vote. Bertie knew what he was doing...

Secondly, 12 million spent on cleaning up the register? Money well spent - some people arrived at their polling station to find they were helpfully deleted from the register while others received two or more polling cards!

I'm with Sioda and De Breno. A joke is what it is.

Stark

DoubleJoe7 wrote:

Plese, you know well that most people aren't informed enough to know how to postal vote - most people don't know how PR works judging by the "bluffers guide to voting" most papers had.

It's true. I was shocked by the number of intelligent people who thought you could give two candidates the same preference, or not put anyone down as No. 1, instead opting to give two people "No. 2".

Teg Veece

PCros wrote:

How exactly?

Because he knows that the majority of students who are attending college outside of their constituency wouldn't use a postal vote.
You can go on about how its their duty to vote etc. but when it comes down to it, they're college students under pressure with exams. Looking into how to go about voting via the post is sadly a step too far for most of them regardless of how straight forward it actually is.

nesf

Stark wrote:

It's true. I was shocked by the number of intelligent people who thought you could give two candidates the same preference, or not put anyone down as No. 1, instead opting to give two people "No. 2".

Really? It was all explained to us in Primary School. Or at least the basics of it. They didn't go into debates about why we use the Droop Quota etc.

Blackjack

Teg Veece wrote:

Because he knows that the majority of students who are attending college outside of their constituency wouldn't use a postal vote.
You can go on about how its their duty to vote etc. but when it comes down to it, they're college students under pressure with exams. Looking into how to go about voting via the post is sadly a step too far for most of them regardless of how straight forward it actually is.

Wait until working life comes along - how will they manage with pressure then?. This is how the real world works - if students want to play a part in it, they need to involve themselves in it.

Crash

The main issue with the lack of registration for the postal vote by students would partially be the lack of time between calling the election and the closing date for postal votes. I had more issue with that than anything else...

Akrasia

there are some amount of gombeens on this thread.

The important point isn't whether or not it was possible to obtain a postal vote or not, it's about the gerrymandering effect of deliberately making it more difficult for certain people to vote than for others.

Elections are turned on the marginal voters, not on the hardcore politicos who are committed to a particular party regardless of how corrupt they are.
Marginal voters are ordinary people, far less likely to consider registering for a postal vote a year in advance of an election being called and far far less likely to sacrifice a career or college results by taking a 6 hour trip back and forth to the home constituency to vote.

It was not a random decision to hold the vote on a thursday. It was a deliberate tactic designed specifically to maximise the FF core vote while disenfranchising people more likely to vote against them. Some people will argue that as the incumbent taoiseach, it is Bertie's right to choose an election date to best benefit his own party, but an objective view would surely have to conclude that the price of this right is the further erosion of democracy

Blackjack

Have elections for the Dáil ever taken place on a day other than a thursday?. Anyone have that info?