10 things you should know before voting

THE local and European elections are now just over a fortnight away and there will be wall-to-wall coverage on the state of the parties, the likely winners and losers and the implications of the results for party leaders.

What won’t be discussed, however, is the electoral system itself because apparently the body politic assumes voters know how to vote despite nobody telling them.

Ireland is almost unique in having PR-STV, which is only used in Malta and parts of Australia. Yet despite that, when was the last time you saw an information advert or received a booklet in the letterbox explaining the voting system?