Voting underway in virtual Irish ballot

Voting is underway in a virtual Irish election designed to highlight the disenfranchisement of Irish emigrants.

Irish citizens living abroad who are ineligible to vote in next week’s election are being invited to cast a symbolic ballot via the ballotbox.ie website.

Under the current rules, Irish citizens domiciled abroad are not entitled to be entered on the register of electors except in the case of Irish officials on duty abroad.

An estimated 3.1 million Irish passport-holders live abroad, while some 27,700 Irish citizens left the State in the 12 months to April 2010.

The website is the brainchild of young Irish emigrants Brian Reynolds and John Byrne, both of whom are living and working in Toronto.

“Our aim is to highlight how emigrants are immediately disenfranchised once they leave Ireland in stark contrast to all other European Union countries, except Greece,” Mr Byrne said. “A vote at Ballotbox.ie may not be a real vote, but it’s the next best thing,” he said.

The site has a full list of constituencies and candidates, and voting is based on the traditional proportional representation by the single transferable vote (PR-STV) system.

Participation will be restricted to those living outside Ireland through the use of IP technology. The site will also discourage multiple voting by using e-mail and SMS technology to identify voters.

More than 2,500 people had already registered to vote with the site, which is being administered by volunteer staff in Dublin, as of yesterday. The results of the ballot will to be released shortly before next Thursday’s vote.

Founder of the Irish Voice newspaper in the US, Niall ODowd said Irish citizens abroad, like those of all other EU countries, should be afforded the right to vote.

"Those same emigrants have been deeply impacted in their life decisions by the policies Irish politicians and governments have pursued. They are entitled to make their views known too. I welcome the launch of Ballotbox.ie and hope it raises awareness of this important issue," he said.