Unstamped ballot papers should be a sackable offence

POLLING clerks who fail to stamp ballot papers, therefore rendering the paper spoilt, should be traced and duly sacked according to a local councillor.

Cllr Charlie Murphy made the point at the recent AGM of Tullow Municipal District.

Members were discussing the recent Local Elections and highlighting elements of the election that causes issues, including polling cards undelivered, difficulties with the electoral register and ballot papers which were unfranked.

“I personally saw four ballot papers that had number one Charlie Murphy on them and were not stamped,” said cllr Murphy.

“Now I believe that every vote counts and my transfers were breaking down three to one in favour of a particular candidate and I believed if those votes had have been stamped, we would have been looking at a different election result….that’s the power of one vote,” he stated Cllr Murphy said the error had not affected him, but he believed it could have affected the outcome of the incredibly close Tullow LEA.

“In my opinion those papers should be traced back and that person sacked…that’s my opinion and it should be looked it,” he argued.

Cllr Murphy also indicated that polling cards were not delivered in Myshall and also Kildavin. “I don’t know what went wrong it was an An Post problem but I have evidence that people tried to vote and did not get to vote, and I’d like to put that on record. It did not affect my result, but some people did not get to vote,” cllr Murphy insisted.

Cllr Will Paton raised the issue of the Electoral Register adding that he was “far from happy with it”. He said it included deceased people, people registered at the wrong address and often little order to the register, citing the case of De Lacey Avenue, The Orchards and The Birches all in Rathvilly as an example of this disorder in their placement on the register.

“There are a lot of errors in it, I would say it’s only about 70% correct,” he said. On the issue of votes not stamped, cllr Paton called on the council to write to the department and recommend that a two-inch square black box be placed on the top corner of ballot papers, and this be the only location where the paper can be stamped.

“You would see that it as stamped straight away and it would be a simply and easy solution to this,” said cllr Paton.

Cllr Paton also called for greater flexibility with postal votes, calling it too restrictive and should allow for people on holiday, people in hospital or pre-scheduled hospital appointments. "This could really have the difference. As it stands the postal vote is too restrictive and if we seriously want to improve democracy the postal vote should be extended".

Cllr Brian O’Donoghue remarked that there was a lot of work done on the register by council staff in advance of the election however there was still a lot of issues with the register and different registers in existence.

He added that there was an element of personal responsibility when it comes to checking the register and pointed our that for anyone who has voted in the past five years there was “no reason why you wouldn’t be on it”.

Cllr John Pender stated there was a lot of areas across the Tullow Municipal where polling cards were not delivered. He recounted one case where a man arrived at a polling station in Tullow at 6.55pm, only to be told that it the poling station was closed until 7pm.

“He was highly aggrieved, and it was very heavy handled by the returning officer at that polling station,” argued cllr Pender.

Cllr Pender also raised the issue of the new polling booths, which he said were too narrow and with the large number of candidates and long ballot papers in both the European and Tullow LEA, it was not possible “to place down the full paper and have a good look at it”. 

Cllr Pender also suggested zoning sections of the town to facility a more accurate register, pointing out that Tullow has an additional 35 housing estates since he first began canvassing the area. “The register is an absolute mess and needs to be brought up to modern standards,” he said. 

Cllr Jim Deane pointed out there was also an issue with polling cards in the Tinryland area and for many people there is a tradition of bringing their polling cards to the station. He stated it needed to be clarified from An Post about what went wrong, and responsibility taken.

In terms of how the election count was handled, cllr Deane remarked that the count was held up to “a hell of a lot of scrutiny” and was conducted in a very proper and fair manner. Cllr O’Donoghue added that while it was “extraordinary tense” the fact that from 8,000 ballot papers only five errors were found, was a “testament to the staff….it was truly extraordinary”. 

Cllr Paton's proposal of a a two-inch square black box be placed on the top corner of ballot papers, and this be the only location where the paper can be stamped was also raised at a meeting of Carlow County Council. Chief executive Coilin O'Reilly agreed to make the suggestion to the department.