Broadcast moratorium should be scrapped, says election watchdog
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The broadcast moratorium, which sees TV and radio stations banned from mentioning elections and referenda from 2pm the day before, should be scrapped, the country's election watchdog has said.
In its report on the family and care referendums, which were overwhelmingly defeated in March, the Electoral Commission says that the moratorium should be done away with before the next election.
Comisiún na Meán issues guidelines that instruct radio and television broadcasters to observe a moratorium on coverage of an electoral event from 2pm the day before the event until the close of polls.
However, this does not apply to online or social media.
In the case of this year's referendums, the moratorium began on 2pm on Thursday, March 7, after which website published the advice from Attorney General Rossa Fanning to the Government on the referendums.
The timing meant that broadcast media could not discuss the story.
The commission's report says that "at a time when online media and social media is so prevalent, these guidelines are now anomalous and open to potential exploitation".
The report also suggests:
- The publication of a proposed amendment should be "no later than 16 weeks before the proposed polling day";
- The designated date in a Polling Day Order for a referendum should be "no less than 60 days after the signing of the Polling Day Order";
- The overall design of referendum ballot papers be reviewed in advance of the next referendum.
- And the report says that the layout and design of the ballot papers for the two referendums "were not sufficiently clear".
"The ballot papers for the two referendums were striking in that for example, on the family ballot paper, it was 44 words in before the words 'An Teaghlach' were mentioned or 53 words in before the words 'The Family' are mentioned on the ballot paper.
"This made it difficult for voters to differentiate between ballot papers which looked almost identical in respect of their text and layout.
"In our media engagements ahead of polling day, An Coimisiún stressed the differing colours of the ballot papers as a method of differentiation — but this colour distinction does not in itself suffice.
"An Coimisiún recommends that the overall design of referendum ballot papers be reviewed, and that a simple prominent heading stating the subject matter of the proposal be included.
The report is critical of the timelines allowed for the delivery of booklets on the referendums to every household, saying that deliveries were taking place just days before polling.
"Every household in the country should have the booklet between two to three weeks before the referendum polling day. An Coimisiún firmly believes that 16 weeks is the minimum time required to allow it to carry out these functions...16 weeks is the minimum notice that should be provided by Government of its intention to hold a referendum," it said.