David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to hear that the Minister will do that. I take it that the ballot papers for the by-election have not been printed yet, so there might be time to act beforehand and deal with this anomaly. In our system of the single transferable vote a small difference such as that can make a massive difference to the result. The eighth, ninth and tenth preference can affect the outcome of an election. I have seen hundreds of these papers marked in that way. I have raised this previously and I am very frustrated that it has not yet been rectified. However, I am pleased that the Minister has decided to examine this. It should be done before the by-election, as the papers are not printed yet. The Minister could get it done by issuing an instruction that an X, a black mark or something be put there. Members of Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Labour Party or any other party with a logo are at a disadvantage because of this. It is a small issue, but it can have a big outcome.

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