5,000 voters sign up to supplementary register

MORE than 5,000 people registered to vote in Cork for Friday’s election in the few weeks during which the supplementary register was opened. A further 1,500-plus people have added their names to the electorate in Kerry constituencies.

Within Cork City Council’s boundary alone, the numbers who signed up late to vote were up from just over 900 ahead of the May 2007 general election to 1,500 in the period up to February 8 when the supplementary registers closed for all 43 constituencies.

The registers are maintained by city and county councils, but the electorate for some constituencies which straddle city and county boundaries are based on figures combined by neighbouring local authorities.