Disenfranchised…
May 18th, 2007 by Jim Kennedy
Back at the start of the year, it took me three attempts to get onto the shiny, new register of electors. I filled in the form and dropped it in the post, for free, as they said. Time passed and my name didn’t appear on the list at checktheregister.ie.
I filled in a second form and dropped that one off in the post office directly myself, to be sure, like. Time passed and my name still didn’t appear on the list.
As the final day for registration loomed, I filled in a third form and, on the very last day of registration, I dropped it into the letterbox of the appropriate office down there on the quays, bypassing the middlemen. Finally, my name appeared on the list.
So, you’d think a citizen could relax and await polling day, with nothing more arduous to do than avoid eye-contact with Patricia McKenna on the street, as I had to do yesterday. You’d be wrong.
I checked to see where my local polling station was, having lived across the river last time around:
The government calls it EAST WALL COMM.CTR ST.MARYS RD. D3, we used to call it East Wall Community Centre; this is what it looked like on Thursday:
Is local representative Bertie going to ensure that the spanking new community centre is finished by polling day, next week, so I can exercise my constitutional right?
I’m never going to get to vote, am I?
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I started renting in Dalkey about 18 months ago. Its a very nice area generally, and we have RTE posse, Mary Wilson, David McHairflick and Green Jag driving Tuberty (doing well for a civil servant) hovering around Xtravision on the mainstreet to prove how nice it is.
Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown traditionally has the highest turnout in all elections. They’re the ones with the biggest interest in the vote. Last summer though, just after the census was conducted we got a visit from a lady with a flip chart. I thought she was with the census too.
No, she was from Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council and wanted to make sure that we were registered to vote. She came back about a week or so later to check. I got my polling card there last week, although when I checked on checktheregister.ie. my name wasn’t there.
I’m supposed to vote in the local town hall, which is in Dalkey Castle, a fairly ancient heritage spot that they’re not likely to knock down anytime soon.