VOTING PROCEDURE

VOTING IN the Lisbon Treaty referendum takes place tomorrow. Polling stations open at 7am and close at 10pm.

VOTING IN the Lisbon Treaty referendum takes place tomorrow. Polling stations open at 7am and close at 10pm.

Each elector will be required to produce evidence of identity which includes a passport, a driving licence, an employee identity containing a photograph, a student identity card along with a cheque book, cheque card, birth certificate or marriage certificate.

For first time in the State's history more than three million voters will be eligible to cast their ballots in a European referendum.

The electorate stands at 3,051,278 as of February 15th, 2008. It was 2,923,918 for the second Nice referendum in October 2002.

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At polling stations tomorrow voters will be presented with a ballot paper asking them whether or not they approve of the 28th Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 2008.

The full text of the constitutional amendment, as outlined in the Bill, will not be on the ballot paper but will be available for inspection at polling stations.

Voters on five islands off the coast of Donegal have already voted. Today 1,200 voters on the Aran Islands will cast their ballots.

The votes will be counted on Friday at centres in 43 constituencies. At the completion of each count, each local returning officer will inform the referendum returning officer, who will be based at St Patrick's Hall, Dublin Castle, of the result from their constituencies.

The referendum returning officer will tot the constituency result and declare the overall result, which should be known by late afternoon.

A broadcasting moratorium on the Lisbon Treaty exists from midnight last night, seven hours earlier than usual, and all political activity will be prohibited in the vicinity of the polling stations for the duration of the poll.