Voting urged in first by-election since 1945
WEXFORD County Registrar Marie Garahy is the Returning Officer for the by-election on Friday, November 29 which is being held to elect a member of the Dáil to fill the seat vacated by Mick Wallace of Independents 4 Change who was recently elected as an MEP.
Voting will take place between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. at 191 polling stations around the county and the count will be held the following day, Saturday, November 30 in St. Joseph’s Community Centre in Wexford town, with a result expected before midnight that night.
All residents of the county over the age of 18, except class E (EU citizens who are eligible to vote in European and local elections) and class L (non-EU citizens eligible to vote in local elections only) are entitled to vote in the by-election.
Special provisions for people with impaired vision will be available in each of the county’s polling stations.
If you are a vision impaired voter wishing to vote in secret, ask the Presiding Officer at your polling station to attach a ballot paper template to your ballot paper.
Raised numbering and Braille on the template will guide you to the relevant openings that correspond to the candidates on the ballot paper.
The electorate in County Wexford for the last General Election in 2016 was approximately 116,000 and with concerns about a low turn-out in a by-election, especially one in mid-winter, so close to Christmas, the Returning Officer has urged people to come out and vote.
‘I would encourage as many people as possible to take part in the democratic process’, she said.
Voters who have not received a polling card should bring ID with them when they go to their local polling station.
There are changes to two polling stations locations for the by-election. The polling station in Clohamon has been re-located back to the old school in the village from Ballyroebuck while Kilanerin station has moved from the school, at the request of the board of management, to the Shamrock Hall.
There are nine candidates in the election and their names will appear on the ballot paper in alphabetical order as follows: Cinnamon Blackmore (People Before Profit), a carer of 12 Hunters Green, Creagh, Gorey; Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail), Head of Communications at the Higher Education Authority, of 14 The Chase, Gorey; Jim Codd (Aontú), a teacher of Aughnagan, Taghmon; Karin Dubsky (Green Party), an environmental scientist of Wood Walls, Ballymoney; Charlie Keddy (Independent), a plumber of Sea Road, Kilcoole, County Wicklow; George Lawlor (Labour) a public representative of 12 Richmond Drive, Wexford; Verona Murphy (Fine Gael), Irish Road Haulage Association president of Ramsgrange; Johnny Mythen (Sinn Féin), a retired ESB technician of Ballyorril, Enniscorthy and Melissa O’Neill (Irish Freedom Party), a carer of 40, Abbeylands, Ferrybank, County Waterford.
The count centre at St. Joseph’s will open at 9 a.m. on Saturday and will continue until a candidate has been elected. The count is open to interested members of the public and no ticket is required.
A team of 100 staff will empty the ballot boxes and separate and count the votes with boxes from the north of the county generally opened first.
The successful candidate will join Wexford’s sitting TD’s Paul Kehoe (FG), Michael D’Arcy (FG), Brendan Howlin (Labour) and James Browne (Fianna Fail).
However, the winner will have a short-lived tenure in the Dáil as a General Election is looming in the spring of 2020 when he/she will have to go through an election campaign all over again.
By-elections have been a rare occurrence in Wexford with the most recent having taken place in 1945. Following the death of Labour Party TD Richard Corish, a by-election was held in December of that year, with the seat being won by his son, Brendan Corish, who went on to become Leader of the Labour Party and Tánaiste.
The other candidates were Robert Moran of Fianna Fail; Patrick Kinsella, Clann na Talmhan, and Robert Murphy, Independent.
Corish was a clear winner with over 50% of the vote with Robert Moran in second place with €36.5%.
A Wexford by-election was proposed in the 1960’s but was overtaken by a snap General Election.
There are four by-elections taking place around the country on Friday, to replace TD’s who were elected to the European Parliament last May.
The others are in Cork North Central where Billy Kelleher of Fianna Fail was the TD, Dublin Fingal (Clare Daly of Independents 4 Change) and Dublin Mid-West (Frances Fitzgerald of Fine Gael.).