‘No Eircode is needed to vote’

PEOPLE do not need to provide their PPS number and Eircode in order to vote in the women in the home and family referendum on March 8, the Government has confirmed.

The Department of Local Government has stated that voters who are already registered do not need to provide additional details in order to get their polling card ahead of the February 20 cut-off date for the upcoming referendum.

The Checktheregister.ie website, which helps people find out if they are registered to vote, caused confusion earlier this week as it instructed those who were already registered to vote to add their PPS number, Eircode and date of birth to their registration.

However, the department confirmed those already registered to vote are not required to add these extra details to get their polling card. ‘We acknowledge some confusion has been caused by wording on Checktheregister.ie. We have amended the website accordingly to clarify,’ a spokesman for the department said.

He added: ‘At present, everyone eligible and registered to vote at an upcoming poll will remain on the register and will receive a polling card; no further action is required at this time.’

However, new applicants or those looking to change the details on the website will need to provide their PPS number and date of birth. A department spokesman said that as part of ongoing work to improve the data quality of the electoral register, everyone is being asked to check and either confirm or update their information by providing additional data such as PPS number and date of birth. ‘This helps to ensure that only eligible people are registered,’ he explained.