More than 70,000 people spoil their vote in three separate polls
Figures compiled after the weekend ballot drama show that, despite a sea change in Irish politics, a significant number of voters turned down or missed the opportunity to make their voices heard in the high profile elections.
While the four European election constituencies had a total electorate of more than 3.2 million people for last Friday’s vote, the total number of people who used their ballot in the race for the 12 MEP seats was just 1.8 million – with 46,607 spoiling the ballot paper.
The large number of spoilt votes, which mirrors the 2004 European election when 60,567 were recorded out of a total electorate of 3.1 million and total vote of 1.7 million, was highest in the Ireland North West constituency.
In the hotly contested area, a total of 15,675 spoilt votes were recorded in the European elections compared to the Ireland East (13,042), Ireland South (11,838) and Ireland Dublin (6,054) constituencies.
The number of spoiled votes in the local elections fell from 36,809 in 2004 to 23,164, with a large number of voters firmly rejecting all of the candidates in their constituency.
In some cases this was deliberate, with vote counters greeted with messages ridiculing candidates – particularly in Dublin South and Dublin Central.
However, as in most elections a large number of votes were also spoilt by mistake, with reports of some voters confusing the two separate local and European ballots for a single election paper.
Of the 28,803 people out of a 62,673 electorate who turned out to vote in Dublin Central by election, 391 spoilt their ballot paper.
This figure was repeated in the Dublin South by- election, where 443 votes were spoilt out of a total poll of 52,479.
