People who steal polling cards in the run-up to next June's elections could get up to two years in jail and a €10,000 fine under changes to be proposed by the Government today.
The changes to the Electoral Amendment Bill will be announced by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr Cullen, today.
The tighter rules have been sparked by fears that polling cards sent to apartment complex residents have been stolen and used illegally.
"It is very hard to get evidence, but there is an awful lot of anecdotal evidence that this is happening. It is very difficult to deal with it," a Government source said last night.
Under the amendment, a person can be charged if he "takes, destroys, conceals or otherwise interferes with a polling card", or "presents such a card at a polling station".
If found guilty, a person summarily convicted can be fined up to €3,500 or jailed for a year, or jailed for up to two years and fined up to €10,000 if convicted on indictment. The personation allegations are usually levelled at Sinn Féin, though the main political parties failed to produce evidence after the 2002 election of unusual voting patterns.
Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party combined in 1997 to have observers in many polling stations to prevent personation, though fewer polling stations were manned in 2002.
"There was anecdotal evidence that it went on in a number of places in the city centre last time," said Mr Terry Murphy, who is directing Fine Gael's local election campaign in Dublin.
In some cases, according to a number of sources, ESB bills were taken from householders and paid. Subsequently, the bill was offered as identification to polling station staff.
Stricter rules covering the supplementary voting register have been put in place, which require latecomers to sign forms in the local Garda station, rather than simply registering, as before.
"This is a classic case of ordinary people being affected negatively because of something that a few people get involved in," a Fianna Fáil source commented to The Irish Times.
Mr Cullen's predecessor in Environment, Mr Dempsey, brought in rules prior to the 2002 general election, requiring polling station officers to challenge one in 20 people seeking polling cards.
The Electoral Amendment Bill has passed Second Stage in the Dáil and will begin its Committee Stage hearing tomorrow.