Abroad

Coming #HomeToVote: top tweets from emigrants making epic journeys back

Voters travelling long distances and helping each other out to make it to the polls

Yes supporters were more visible as thousands returned to Ireland to case their vote in the referendum on the .Eighth Amendment

Dan Griffin
Thu May 24 2018 - 15:28

As emigrants flock home to vote in Friday’s referendum on the Eighth Amendment, Twitter has come alive with accounts of their journeys.

A lot of air miles and a lot of hours have been clocked up as emigrants make the journey home.

On both sides of the debate.

Other Irish people, who have lost their vote at home after living outside of the country for a certain period of time, have urged Irish citizens to vote on their behalf.

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Some are offering lifts.

Others are sponsoring emigrant voters to come home.

From May 23rd to 3pm on May 24th, #hometovote was mentioned 43,096 times on social media, according to Meltwater, a social media analytics company. The top locations people are posting from were Ireland, the UK, the US, Australia and Canada with the most frequently occuring words and phrases being women, Dublin, home, London, Buenos Aires, airport, favour, eldest son, hours, access healthcare, flight and jumper.

So I forgot my repeal jumper when I first started my travels in January and now my mam and dad are after showing up at Dublin airport with the jumper in hand and I just #HomeToVote #Together4Yes #repealthe8th #VietnamToIreland pic.twitter.com/lJ7yGvg5YO

Following the marriage equality referendum campaign, #HometoVote ranked fifth amongst Twitter’s top news trends in 2015, earning 72,000 tweets, and a place on the wall of Twitter’s HQ in San Francisco and Dublin.

Dan Griffin

Dan Griffin

Dan Griffin is an Irish Times journalist

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