Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too wish to be associated with the congratulations to Senators Regina Doherty and Lynn Boylan on their elevation to the membership of the European Parliament, and also to Senators Blaney, Chambers and Gavan. It is a massive thing to put oneself forward in any election and I commend them all on their performance.

I cannot have been the only Member of the House observing some of the statistics from the recent elections. I refer particularly to the concerning rate of voter turnout as well as the perennial issue of spoiled votes. In a morbid landmark across EU elections in this country, just under half – exactly 49.4% - of voters made it to the polling stations last week to cast their vote, down from a participation rate of 50.2% in 2019, as Ireland broke away from the EU norm of increased turnout this election cycle. This phenomenon was particularly glaring in working-class areas of Dublin, where turnout was as low as 33% in the south inner city. Perhaps equally bad, the Electoral Commission reported that there were 60,000 spoiled or incorrectly filled-out ballots - 1.3% of all votes - despite continued campaigns in recent years to heighten voter awareness. While great strides have been made to mitigate the cause of incorrectly filled-out ballots, many of those reporting on the Midlands-North-West European constituency described a higher than average rate of spoiled votes, potentially driven by the number of European candidates.

As Ireland’s politics becomes more diverse and our elections become more complicated with a greater selection of candidates, there is concern that pre-existing issues with voting will be magnified. Has the Electoral Commission considered the use of simplified ballots, as tried in Australia and Germany, to reduce voter confusion, or even the prospect of giving the voting system greater instruction time in schools? Similarly, has the commission given much thought to the potential of electronic optical scanners for vote counting, as used in many American states, such as Florida and Michigan, and recently piloted in the UK and France? Scanners have been tried with success in the UK local elections and could minimise the time taken up by traditional hand counting and free up time for politicians and national airwaves. Despite the mountains of reporting on the so-called far-right or the threat of misinformation, having half the population shirk from their democratic duties or simply being miseducated and not vote properly is a major concern for Irish democracy. While the prospect of electronic voting is perhaps beyond the political grasp as of present, due to past scandals, it is time for Irish electoral practices to enter the 21st century by integrating the best technological practices on offer while minimising spoiled votes. Democratic suffrage is only as good as the mechanisms that support it, and the warning signs are showing when it comes to the machinery of Irish democracy following last week's elections.