Expats can cast symbolic ballot on ballotbox.ie

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have announced proposals that would allow Irish citizens living in Australia to vote in future presidential elections.

The proposals were included in the parties’ election manifestos, which include a number of measures for electoral reform.

Fine Gael has indicated that it would reduce the voting age to 17, automatically register all 17-year-olds to vote and give “eligible citizens the right to vote at Irish embassies in the Irish presidential elections”.

Fine Gael said that if the move was successful, the party would consider expanding the reform to include general elections.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil announced it would support “the extension of the franchise for presidential elections to all Irish citizens, including emigrants”.

Neither Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil has provided greater detail on the voting proposals, such as how or when they would be implemented.

Labour appear to have gone cold on the idea of expat votes. The party’s manifesto contains no proposals for voting by Irish citizens living abroad.

The party had included extensive proposals for what it called ‘emigrant representation’ in its 2007 election manifesto.

Neither Sinn Féin or the Greens have referred to the issue in their election campaigns.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s proposals coincided with the launch of a new website – BallotBox.ie – which aims to spark greater debate about votes for Irish citizens abroad.

The website, set up by Irish citizens living in Canada, will allow expats to cast a symbolic ballot from February 15.

Voters without an IP address in Ireland will be unable to cast a vote on the website.

BallotBox.ie founder Brian Reynolds told the Irish Echo that he had set up the site because he noticed an increase in political engagement by Irish people living abroad.

“The reason I set this up is because I had so many friends around the world who had become much more active.

“More people than ever are interested in political goings on at home,” said Reynolds.

“I had heard stories of people who had booked flights home and spent over a grand to get home and vote – but I soon realised that was illegal,” said Reynolds, now living in Toronto, Canada.

“The security measures will block IP addresses in Ireland.

“You’ll vote as if you were voting at home, in your own constituency.

“There are 3.1 million [Irish overseas] who could vote and we’re hoping to get about 100,000,” said Reynolds.

BallotBox.ie expect the majority of the symbolic votes to originate from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany. The purpose of the website is to be a symbolic protest against the exclusion of Irish people living abroad from the electoral register.

“People are more active than they have ever been in politics and people want more than ever to help the country and have a vote in the future of the country,” said Reynolds.

Visitors who wish to vote have to submit their email and passport information.

BallotBox.ie will release its results later this week, before the general election on February 25.

by Luke O’Neill