Mayo's electoral roll given major overhaul

MAYO County Council has undertaken a sweeping effort to modernise and clean up the county's electoral register, with 3,025 duplicate entries removed and 1,073 deceased electors deleted as part of a two-year project prompted by the Electoral Reform Act.

Patricia Flynn told the council's corporate and planning strategic policy committee the legislation had been 'a real game changer' for how voter registration is managed in Ireland.

Ms. Flynn outlined a series of reforms introduced under the Act, including the establishment of An Coimisiún Toghcháin, a new online verification portal called checktheregister.ie, and the introduction of PPS numbers and Eircodes as mandatory fields for new applicants.

The reforms had also brought early registration for 16- and 17-year-olds, same-day voting for island communities, a new category of postal voter, updated registration provisions for homeless people, and improved protections for those in the witness protection programme.

Since the introduction of checktheregister.ie, the council has received 31,000 applications from County Mayo residents. However, Ms. Flynn noted that only 47 per cent of registered electors have an Eircode on file, and much work remains to ensure the database is fully up to date ahead of a major system migration due in mid-August.

The council is actively seeking the support of elected members and community organisations to promote the registration campaign.

The clean-up was carried out in two phases. Phase one, completed at the end of August last year, addressed around 7,000 records requiring correction, including removal of duplicate entries and formatting issues such as brackets and commas that would be incompatible with the new national voter.ie database.

Phase two involved cross-referencing Mayo's register against a national electoral database. A contractor was engaged to identify duplicate entries across all counties, with 3,025 matches identified between Mayo and other local authorities. Each case required direct contact with the relevant county council to resolve.

A separate cross-check with the national death register resulted in the deletion of 1,073 deceased electors. All of this work was completed by the end of March.

Ms. Flynn acknowledged that 2024 had been an exceptionally demanding year, with three separate polling days held, two referenda, local and European elections, and the general election, followed by the presidential election in 2025.

She paid tribute to former director of services John Condon, describing him as 'a fountain of knowledge' for herself and her team throughout the process.

The council is preparing to migrate to the new national voter.ie platform, which is due to go live in mid-August. Staff are due to begin training in June, with data testing and verification to follow.

Ms. Flynn confirmed Mayo County Council will retain responsibility as registrar for the county.

The total number of electors on the Mayo register currently stands at 114,203, with 86 pending applications, including 50 students from a local school who signed up ahead of their 18th birthdays.

To boost registration ahead of the migration, the council plans pop-up booths at community events, libraries, supermarkets and GAA fixtures, along with an advertising campaign across local papers and radio.

The council is liaising with the local housing office, auctioneers and solicitors to remind people to update their registration when they move home. The council also cross-references RIP.ie and Midwest Radio death notices to identify deceased electors, with Ms. Flynn noting this process is handled with care and subject to multiple checks.

Committee chair Councillor Michael Burke welcomed the progress, noting that close to 10 per cent of the register had consisted of duplicate entries from people who had left the area. And he was glad to see 17-year-olds now able to register and looked forward to them casting their first votes.

Councillor Cyril Burke noted the difficulty some apartment dwellers face in identifying their Eircode. Ms. Flynn confirmed that the Eircode field is now mandatory and directed residents to Eircode.ie for assistance.

Councillor Donna Sheridan said she had been involved in that event in Castlebar where transition year students and politics students had participated and had registered to vote ahead of their 18th birthdays.

Former Louisburgh-based councillor Austin Francis O'Malley said he firmly believes 16-year-olds should be entitled to vote, noting that the early registration scheme could prove to be a positive step in that direction.

* Funded under the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme