Madam, - So much for opinion polls and a mean-spirited Irish media. The people are speaking. - Yours, etc, LOUIS POWER, Killiney, Co Dublin.
A Chara, - I was very much amused in the days before the election to receive no fewer than four voting cards. Surprised by this I went to the online service www.checktheregister.ie and was able to confirm that I was indeed registered to vote four times: once in the constituency where I grew up and my parents still live, once in the constituency where I currently live and, amazingly, twice at a previous address in Dublin. - Is mise,
SEOSAMH Ó H-AIMHEIRGIN, Caragh Green, Naas, Co Cill Dara.
Madam, - I turned up at my local polling station in Meath on Thursday evening with my polling card and driving licence as a form of ID. (As one of many people who commute daily from Meath to Dublin I was unable to vote in the morning as polling stations opened long after I had begun the journey to Dublin.) However, officials told me they could not give me a ballot paper as someone had already voted using my polling card number. When I asked how it would have been possible for someone to vote using the polling card which I still had I was told that they only asked one in four people for proof of identity, so it was possible that someone else had voted in my place. They denied that it would have been possible for them to have crossed my name off the list in error.
I was told there was nothing I could do about this. I was given the name and telephone number of the returning officer to contact and told in no uncertain terms that I would not be able to vote.
It is hard for me to express the anger that I feel at being denied my constitutional right to vote, an anger that will only be compounded if the candidates or parties I would have voted for miss out by a narrow margin. In this time, when young people such as myself show increasing apathy to the political process, it is galling to make the effort to vote only to be denied by either a fraudulently cast vote, or by appallingly inept polling station management. Either way, the end result is one more disillusioned young voter. - Yours, etc,
RORY VICTORY O'KEEFFE, Ratoath, Co Meath.
Madam, - After discovering that I had been incorrectly registered on the electoral roll as category "L" - resident non-EU citizen, when in fact I am a resident Irish citizen - I immediately notified the relevant authority which forwarded a letter acknowledging the error. I was assured that this cover note, along with my passport, would be sufficient for me to vote. On arriving at the polling station early yesterday, I was told I was entitled to vote only in "presidential" and "local" elections. Had it not been for my persistence and another phone call from the same authority directly to the polling station I would have been disenfranchised. - Yours, etc,
MIKE WEERAKOON, Portacarron, Knocknacarra, Galway.
Madam, - My polling card gave the address of my polling station as Community Centre, Francis Street. Having lived on Francis Street for over a year, I was puzzled as I had never noticed a community centre.
Following enquiries, including a phone call to the gardaí at Kevin Street station, I eventually located the polling station in a community centre on Carman's Hall, off Francis Street.
Perhaps in future elections Dublin City Council could consider printing the full addresses of polling stations on polling cards to assist voters in locating them. - Yours, etc,
EMILY MAHER, Earlsfield Court, Dublin 8.
Madam, - I am a first-time voter. I would have voted as my parents had, had I not used mycandidate.ie and come to my own decision. It has been a wonderful resource. Your paper, along with Rock the Vote, should be congratulated on their work to help young people make their own minds up in this election. - Yours, etc,
SAM HUNT, Mount Pleasant Sqaure, Dublin 6.