New era for Wicklow voters as local migration to voter.ie is completed

By Hugh O'Farrell Walsh, The Wicklow People

Wicklow County Council has completed its migration to the State’s new national electoral registration system voter.ie.

The update was delivered at September’s council meeting, where officials outlined the scale of the change and councillors pressed for clarity on how the new system will prevent past problems from recurring.

The council’s team confirmed that Wicklow moved to voter.ie in June, joining Dublin, Wexford, Longford and Kerry in adopting the national platform.

The change marks the end of the old property-based register and introduces a new elector-based system, where entries are organised alphabetically by surname within each townland or estate.

County Wicklow’s register now stands at 111,751 electors.

Officials explained that removals only occur after three pieces of correspondence have been returned, and a final letter is issued to the elector, but councillors said the process had not worked as intended in some cases.

Cllr John Ward told the meeting he had discovered he was no longer on the register despite never receiving any notification. He said he only learned of the issue when a staff member mentioned it to him, and that when he contacted the council at the time, “no one could give me a straight answer”.

A relative of Cllr Miriam Murphy had a similar experience at the last election, arriving at a polling station only to find she had been removed. Staff said such cases were rare and committed to reviewing both instances.

The discussion also revisited a controversy from the 2024 local elections, when people temporarily housed in Trudder House, which had been designated as an IPAS centre, were able to vote despite only living in the area for six or seven weeks.

Cllr John Snell said the situation had caused significant frustration locally, particularly as some residents believed that a sudden influx of voters could influence the outcome of an election.

He said some of those housed in the centre had been transported to the polling station by a political party, and that attempts were made to accompany them inside before being stopped.

Chief executive Emer O’Gorman told councillors she had not been aware of the specific incident, but said the legislation governing electoral eligibility is clear that international protection applicants have legal status while their applications are being processed.

As a result, they are issued PPS numbers and can register to vote in local elections if they meet the criteria. She agreed to seek clarification from the Electoral Commission on how PPS based eligibility interacts with short term accommodation arrangements.

The shift to voter.ie also raised questions about accessibility at polling stations, particularly in rural areas. Cllr Murphy said that, while many schools offer good access, some rural polling places present challenges from the car park onwards.

Officials said polling station selection is the responsibility of the returning officer but agreed to raise the issue, noting that suitable buildings can be limited in some parts of the county.

Despite the concerns, officials emphasised that the new system will ultimately provide a more accurate and transparent register. They said voter.ie offers a stronger audit trail and will make it easier for electors to keep their details up to date.