Mary Lynch, Isabelle Fay and Rachel Fay attend St Clare_s polling Station1.jpg

Referendum in Cavan

'Brisk' polling reported across county

There have been a flurry of early voters as polling stations opened for the Eighth Amendment Referendum, according to reports county-wide.

Polling stations opened at 7am and will close at 10pm tonight.

Ballots will be cast at more than 6,500 stations nationally, where voters are being asked to decide whether to replace or retain the Eighth Amendment.

If supported it would see the insertion of new wording into the constitution stating: 'Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy'.

Polling comes after months of heated political debate, and an eight-week long referendum campaign.

 

Register

In Co Cavan, some 1,186 persons were added to the supplementary register in total.

A total of 297 were deleted from the register in total.

It is the “obligation” of every person to check the Register of Electors in adequate time before an election or referendum to ensure they were correctly registered, a spokesperson for Cavan County Council said.

Electoral law requires that the local authority carry out inspections in order to maintain the accuracy of the register of electors.

In response to online queries to The Anglo-Celt by members of the public who claim to have been wrongly removed from the register, a council spokesperson explained: “The registration authority will only remove an elector from the register if the elector submits a form requesting their removal or if, as a result of door to door inspections, a field officer determines - through a member of that household or another means of verification - that the elector is no longer resident at that address.

“When an individual is removed from the register of electors, a letter is issued to that person’s last-known address, informing them of their removal from the register, and giving said individual the opportunity to object to this removal.

“Electors are not removed from the register without some form of supporting documentation (i.e. registration forms, inspection books etc.)”

The spokesperson added: “Cavan County Council does not comment on individual cases, but again emphasises that is the obligation of every person to check the Register of Electors to ensure they are registered.”

 

St Clare Polling Station

The sun has been shining since polling boots across Cavan opened at 7am this morning. The fine weather appears to have enticed a lot of voters out to cast their ballot.

St Clare's NS in Cavan Town is one of the largest polling stations in the county with 10 booths. Just after 11 o'clock this morning most of the booths in the centre has passed the 10% turnout mark. Booth 1 is experiencing brisk footfall as the invigilators exchange ballot papers for polling cards.

“It has been a busy morning,” the overseer says, “we got a good flurry of people in between 7am and 8am this morning. It is even a little busier than the marriage referendum. Normally a referendum is quiet, but this has been very busy so far. We have had 70 of the 500 ballots cast.”

Over in Booth 2 it is a similar story: “A lot of mothers have been in, the kids are off school so I suppose they want to get it out of the way early. We are expecting the usual spikes to come in a couple of hours at lunch time and then later after tea time.”

The story at Booth 10 is not dissimilar: “We have had a lot of elderly people in her so far. It is a good turnout. Around 14% of the electorate have votes, and I would say they are mostly elderly.”

 

Exit poll

The results of an exit poll following a canvas of 3,000 people across the country immediately after they have voted, will be announced at 11.30pm tonight on RTÉ's Late Late Show, and on the RTÉ News website.

The overall Yes/No exit poll outcome will be announced, with further results and demographic breakdowns to be released at 8am tomorrow.

 

Count day

Tune in tomorrow, May 26, where The Anglo-Celt newspaper will be providing full coverage of the count centre in Co Cavan on our website.