Spoiled, but not silent

In Cavan and Monaghan, the voice of democracy spoke in the form of a spoiled vote, where more than one in 10 ballots cast (10.9%) were deemed invalid - either because they were scrawled on, crossed out, or defiantly left blank- acts as telling as any campaign speech.

When boxes were opened at the count centre at Ballyhaise Agricultural College last Saturday, the talking point quickly changed from the overall outlook that Catherine Connolly would be the tenth President of Ireland, or that Heather Humphreys' home constituency would back her where no others did. Instead, there were whispers about the fact that in some communities, as many as one in five local voters had gone to the polling station on Friday simply choosing not to cast their franchise, but to mark out their protest.

At Ballymackney–Killanny National School in Monaghan, tallies showed that 67 of 457 ballots were rejected. The same in Carrickashedoge, where almost a quarter of all votes cast were spoiled.

In Monaghan Town, one box at St Louis Girls’ National School saw half its votes declared invalid.

Across the 10 worst-affected boxes - all from Co Monaghan - the average spoil rate exceeded 21%.

The constituency’s overall rate - just under 11 per cent - was already ten times the national norm and the highest ever on record locally.

The pattern was much the same in Cavan, where one booth in Kingscourt saw 69 ballots spoiled out of 178 valid - 38.8%. Nearby, two more booths at the same community centre returned spoil rates above 20 per cent.

Mullagh, Glassleck, and Crossreagh again all posted double-digit figures.

Aontú’s Sarah O’Reilly called it “a reality check” for the government who she claims remain sorely “out of touch".

To her, the spoiled vote was not an act of apathy but of conviction: “They were not anti-democratic. They were not apathetic. In fact, in the main, most felt so deeply about this Presidential campaign and the polarising and binary choice they were faced with, that they turned out in their droves to say 'no, not in our name. We will be heard’.”

The choice was indeed unusually narrow. Only three candidates were named on the presidential ballot - two actually still in the race for the Áras - the fewest since 1973.

But behind the dry arithmetic lay a bigger story.

The 'Spoil the Vote' campaign began online after conservative commentator, Aontú's Maria Steen, failed to secure the final two Oireachtas signatures needed for nomination.

Financier Declan Ganley, once of Libertas fame, called the ballot “rigged”, and following him came constellation from other familiar conservative names - Eddie Hobbs, Paul Treyvaud, Ivor Cummins - all amplifying the same call on podcasts, YouTube shows, and social media feeds.

Then came the alleged sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl in Dublin the week before polling took place. In the capital, tallymen at the RDS noted that spoiled ballots in some boxes outnumbered those cast for Humphreys.

In Cavan-Monaghan, 'She was only 10 years old' was written large on one spoiled vote. Another referenced the murder of teacher Ashling Murphy- her murderer’s family convicted of separate but connected crimes days before.

One voter in North Monaghan nominated US president Donald Trump to head up the country; another suggested Ryan Tubridy or Bob Geldof might do a better job.

There was plenty of anti-government sentiment too. Spoiled votes carried messages such as 'Shame', or 'Not my President'. Many more indicated a preference for Ms Steen.

'The elected government should be ashamed of how they have destroyed the country of Ireland', said one. Another stated: 'The men in denim built this country, the boys in suits destroyed it.'

Former Cavan-Monaghan TD Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin described the number of spoiled votes as “very sad”, and criticised the “insulting remarks” written on some of them, saying both Humphreys and Connolly “were deserving of better consideration”.

Humphreys herself acknowledged that people were “disappointed” only two candidates stood in the end, accepting: “Perhaps the government should consider ways to make it easier for more people to run.”