Nearly 2,000 more students register to vote, says USI

Close to 2,000 students have registered to vote in the general election across colleges and third-level institutions in recent days, the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has said.

University College Cork (UCC) saw the most students sign up to be included on the supplementary electoral register in the last week, with UCC students’ union registering just under 700 students on Tuesday alone. The Cork campus saw long queues of students waiting to add themselves on to the electoral register ahead of polling day next month.

Some 415 students in Trinity College Dublin have signed up to vote since last Thursday in voter registration drives organised by the students’ union.

In total, at least 1,977 students signed up in the final days before the deadline to be included on the register to be eligible to cast a ballot in the general election closes on Wednesday.

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Some 224 students were registered to vote in a drive run by Maynooth University students’ union, as well as 200 in Dublin City University, according to figures from the USI.

Smaller third-level institutions also held registration drives in recent days, with more than 100 students registering in both Athlone Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology Sligo.

Some 87 students in Carlow Institute of Technology signed up to vote, 67 students in Waterford Institute of Technology, and a further 37 in Tralee Institute of Technology.

In order to be included on the supplementary register, a RFA2 form must be signed in the presence of a Garda and stamped, then returned to the relevant local authority before the close of business on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Prospective voters can bring the forms to a local Garda station to be stamped, but several students’ unions organised stalls on campuses with a member of the force in attendance in recent days.

USI president Lorna Fitzpatricksaid it was encouraging to see that students “came out in force over the past few days to make sure they can have their voices heard on February 8th. Many students feel like they have been left behind by many policies in the past and will be voting for a brighter future.”