With the general election announced for 29 November, it’s important to note that the deadline for registering to vote is closing in.
The deadline to register in the general election is next Tuesday, 12 November. The good news is that if you’re a first time voter, you can now register online without needing to print and send a hard copy.
Firstly, you have to check that you are eligible to vote. Your entitlement is based on your nationality, and there are rules about the nationalities that are allowed to vote in elections and referendums in Ireland.
You must also be 18 years old or over on the day of the vote; resident in Ireland; and registered to vote.
Even if you are eligible to vote because of your nationality, you cannot vote unless you are registered on the Register of Electors. You can check the register to see if you are registered.
You cannot register to vote if you live outside of the State, although there are some exceptions.
GENERAL ELECTION
Because Ireland is a parliamentary democracy, this means the people of the State decide who will represent them in Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, or Irish parliament).
Members of the Dáil – TDs – will be appointed through this election, with the Constitution stating there must be a TD for every 20,000 to 30,000 people in the population.
Based on the Electoral Commission constituency review 2023, the number of TDs and constituencies will be increased in the next Dáil.
The following changes were introduced by the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2023:
You can vote in a general election if you are:
Each local authority maintains the Register of Electors for its area.
If you are homeless or have no address, you can still register to vote by stating that you have ‘no fixed address.’ Read more about being homeless and registering to vote.
If you have more than one address, you should give the address where you want to be registered. You can only be registered at one address.
You can register to vote:
If you do not give a PPS number, you must get your form and ID witnessed at a local Garda station or your local authority.
CHANGING YOUR DETAILS
You can update your details at any time during the year. The easiest way to do this is on checktheregister.ie.
If you’re already registered to vote, but have to change your address, there is a process for that. If you’re moving from one address in Dublin to another, you can edit your record by visiting voter.ie.
In other cases, form ERF1 (checktheregister.ie/en-IE/forms) must be given to your ‘new’ local authority by next Tuesday.
Third-party requests
You can apply to update the register if you have reasonable grounds to believe an entry about another person is inaccurate. For example, you can apply to update the register if someone has died.
DEADLINE FOR RUNNING FOR ELECTION
The deadline for political candidates to nominate themselves to run in this election is next Friday, 15 November. As per Citizens Information, to run as a candidate for the Dáil, you need to be both a citizen of Ireland and aged over 21 years of age.
If you want to run as a candidate for a political party, you will have to go through the party’s selection procedure. You can read about registering a political party.
If you want to run as an independent candidate, you must present a nomination paper to the returning officer in the constituency where you want to stand. You can nominate yourself, and you can run in more than one constituency. You do not have to live in, or own property in, the constituency where you want to run.
You also must be able to give the returning officer a Certificate of Party Affiliation, or statutory declarations signed by 30 constituents, or a deposit of €500.