Housebound voters 'very, very angry' at missing tight deadline to register for postal vote
Those unable to make it to their polling station due to infirmity have been left furious after being told they will not be able to vote in the General Election, having missed the deadline for postal ballots.
Angry pensioners and elderly people attempted to contact their local councils last Friday to arrange the postal ballot but were told the deadline was the day before, just 48 hours after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar requested the Dáil be dissolved.
They have complained they received no notification or public warning that the deadline was so tight to register for such ballots.
One 81-year-old pensioner, JJ O'Donovan from Dublin, said he is “very, very angry” at not being allowed vote having been denied a postal vote.
A Limerick native, Mr O'Donovan is now largely housebound and is not in a position to attend at the polling station, and sought to cast his ballot remotely.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Mr O'Donovan said: “I have always voted.
It is a God-given right and hard-fought for. But now I am being denied that right.
"I rang the council, who passed me from pillar to post, before eventually telling me I had missed out by a day.”
Mr O'Donovan said there was no public announcement that such a deadline applied and cited last year's European elections when newspaper advertisements gave up to five days' notice to people seeking to use a postal vote.
Postal voting allows ballot papers to be distributed to electors or returned by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station.
Historically, postal votes must be distributed and placed in return mail before the scheduled election day, it is sometimes referred to as a form of early voting.
In response, Dublin City Council said the postal date is the same for every local authority and is dictated by the Department of Housing, Planning & Local Government.
“Please be advised that anyone who had a postal vote for last May’s elections from DCC would still have that facility,” a spokesperson said.
In response to our queries, the Department of Housing said the law only allows for names to be added to the postal voters list for two days after the Dáil is dissolved.
“Section 15A of the Electoral Act 1992, as amended, provides that, for a general election, an application by an elector to have his or her name entered on the supplement to the postal voters list which is received by a registration authority on or after the third day after the dissolution of the Dáil shall not have effect in relation to that election,” the department said.
“As President Higgins dissolved Dáil Éireann on Tuesday January 14, legislation thus provided that applications received after Thursday January 16 should not have effect for the general election,” the department said.
