Cork town had 70 deceased people still registered to vote
Some Have Different Each, Been Registered That Townlands Picture In Had Claims File Votes Made Being Also Two Families
Around 70 dead people were on the voting register in one County Cork town for the recent elections, while a woman voting for 50 years turned up at a polling station to find out she had been removed from it.
Claims have also been made that some families had two votes each, being registered in different townlands, while other families who had left an area 15 years previously were still registered as living there.
These issues were highlighted after Fianna Fáil councillor Ian Doyle asked the council to “urgently update the register” after coming across deceased people getting polling cards sent to their homes and people being taken off the register “through no fault of their own.”
Fine Gael councillor Noel O’Donovan said his local party branch scoured the register for Skibbereen town and “discovered around 70 people on it who were deceased.”
Independent councillor Willie O’Leary said he had a neighbour who had voted for 50 years, but when she turned up at the polling booth she was very upset to be told she wasn’t on the register.
“Some people were on the register twice. I know of families on it twice under different townlands (addresses)," Fine Gael councillor Michael Creed said.
Fine Gael councillor Liam Madden said families who had left his area 10 to 15 years ago are still registered at their former addresses.
Previously, the council was able to employ field officers who would oversee areas and gain information on people who had died, moved away or become eligible to vote.
This was fed into the council’s voter register, but local authorities are unable to do this anymore because of GDPR.
Officials said this didn't help and a new national registry system is in place which they have urged the government to tweak for more efficiency.