Updated: 5.21pm
IF YOU HADN’T registered to vote in the upcoming referendums, today was your last chance.
People had to download a form from CheckTheRegister.ie, get it signed by a guard and present it to their local council before 5pm.
Several people took to Twitter to encourage voters to check the register:
And it looks like it worked, with a near-permanent queue spotted at Dublin City Council’s office, as well as other local authorities.
A spokesperson for Dublin City Council said they received “a large volume of requests for entry to the register” today, but couldn’t put a figure on the number.
“This was D-day I suppose, so it would have been very busy,” the spokesperson said, adding it will take a few days to go through all the applications.
On 22 May, Irish people will be asked to extend marriage to same-sex couples, and to lower the age at which a person can for president from 35 to 21.
Chairman of the Referendum Commission, Justice Kevin Cross, said many people will be unable to vote because they are not registered, or are registered at the wrong address.
Speaking ahead of this evening’s deadline, he said:
“We would encourage you to check the register now to ensure your voice will be heard. There is very little time. Do it now,” Cross stated.
Older voters
Meanwhile Tánaiste Joan Burton has said she is “extremely, pleasantly surprised” at the number of older people who intend to vote Yes.
Burton told Newstalk Breakfast when she was in Ennis over the weekend one woman told her: “This is about all our children, including our children who are gay.”
One woman said to me she had a son who was gay and she wanted him to have the same rights as her other children.
“I think among older people there is a mixture of views,” the Tánaiste said.
Burton noted that some older person had reservations, agreeing this is not an issue older men in particular are used to discussing.
Contradicting comments by No campaigners, she said the referendum would not redefine marriage, noting: “Nothing is being taken out of the Constitution.”
Burton said that Ireland has been in similar situations before – referencing that when contraception was being introduced there was a view that Ireland was going to become “amoral”. She said it was a similar case when divorce was being legislated for.
Additional reporting by Christina Finn
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