Referendum Commission says extra time helped marriage vote turnout

The Referendum Commission has indicated the Government decision to give it a much longer period to do its work for the same-sex marriage and presidential age referendums in May 2015 contributed to a very high voter turnout.

In the report on the two referendums, which has been posted on its website, the chairman Mr Justice Kevin Cross said the commission was happy that the four months allowed was adequate time in which to do its work.

“This is the third occasion in recent campaigns in which adequate time was given to plan and carry out the public awareness campaigns,” Mr Cross said.

“This is a welcome development as against previous campaigns when the time give to the commission was clearly inadequate and was the subject of complaint by these commissions.”

He said the voter turnout of more than 60 per cent for both referendums was gratifying and was the highest turnout since the commission was first established.

“There was a high level of engagement, especially in relation to the debates on the marriage referendum, and this clearly had an effect on the turnout.

“This shows that when people are engaged in the subject matter of the referendum they will turn out to vote,” he said.

More permanent body

Mr Justice Cross again called for a more permanent body to be put in place to encourage people to vote, pointing out that the Referendum Commission was transient, existing only when a referendum is imminent.

“Mobilisation of voters turnout should be extended to all elections. In view of its experience in this area the Referendum Commission considers that a single body, with ongoing existence, would be far more effective in running over awareness campaigns than a body like the Referendum Commission that is brought into existence for a few weeks prior to a referendum. To be effective such a campaign must be an ongoing one,” he said.

No polling research was carried out after the referendum because the commission found that post-referendum polls in the past had seen those polled give inaccurate data about if they voted, and how they voted.

“An electoral commission with an ongoing legal existence would be in a position to commission research into this general issue,” he said.

Unlike previous referendums, the information campaign focused for the first time on the website and social media as the means of conveying information, rather than the booklet, which was used as a back-up. Some 280,00 individuals accessed the website, the majority using mobile devices.

The commission’s overall budget was €2.7 million for both referendums. The report said that €1.5 million should be the minimum for any single referendum in future.