CervicalCheck campaigner calls for review of electoral register as late wife gets polling card

CervicalCheck campaigner Stephen Teap has demanded a root-and-branch review of Ireland’s register of electors after a general election polling card arrived for his wife, Irene, who died almost three years ago.

Mr Teap said the arrival of the card in the post highlights a lack of care and attention to detail in a key state system and underlines why people have a general lack of confidence in such systems.

“I’ve been getting polling cards for Irene for the last two-and-a-half years - the presidential election, the referendum, the local elections and now the general election,” he said.

“I had to contact several agencies and utilities to inform them of Irene’s death.

"But how many people do I have to tell? Do I have to worry about the electoral register too? It was so far down my list of priorities at the time of her death, to be honest.

Amazing how almost 3 years after Irene's passing she still gets a vote🙄🤬 #GE2020 pic.twitter.com/eJD1hda0YR

— 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕋𝕖𝕒𝕡 (@Stephenteap) February 3, 2020

“Irene’s death has already been registered with the state. Why isn’t that enough?

“It’s clear the left-hand doesn’t have a clue what the right-hand is doing.”

Mr Teap spoke out after Irene's polling card arrived at their home in Cork yesterday.

“The first time a polling card arrived for Irene after her death, it was soul-destroying. It was for the Repeal the Eighth referendum,” he said.

“Irene was alive when the referendum was announced and then a polling card arrived after her death and she wasn’t around to vote, and that was shattering.

“And then it happened again for the presidential election, and again for the local elections and now for the general election. It just angers me more than anything else.

“I have no doubt that there are many others, who possibly buried loved ones recently who are getting polling cards too.

It just focuses everything back onto the competence of the systems in this country. You see this polling card coming through the door for someone who is dead and you say is it any wonder we are in the state we are in.

Mr Teap said the generation of a death certificate should be enough for the state to remove a person’s name for the register of electors - just as a birth certificate generates a PPS number.

“There are only so many people I can tell that Irene has died. We have one government - why should I have to contact all these agencies. I have enough to be dealing with, not to mind chasing up with the electoral register,” he said.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil has apologised for addressing election literature to a woman who died a year ago.

A family complained after a letter, signed by party president, Micheál Martin, arrived in the post last week addressed to their mother almost a year to the date since her death.

Her son said it caused “deep upset” and “triggered the mourning process all over again”.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Fianna Fáil said it was sorry it had happened.

“Our mailing lists are based on the electoral register and in this case, as the letter was sent before the general election was called, it was based on last year’s list,” it said.

“Our constituency team work hard to ensure that these lists are kept up to date, but occasionally, letters are sent in error to constituents who have passed away.

“For this, we apologise without reservation and we are deeply sorry for the upset caused to the family in this case.”

You should request a Form RFA1 from your local authority to remove the name of a deceased from the Register of Electors.