Voter information Polling stations open tomorrow from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. as the electorate votes on the citizenship referendum and decides which politicians take 13 places in the European Parliament and more than 1,600 local authority seats.
Voters are advised to bring identification with them, such as a passport, driving licence or other formal document. More than three million adults are registered to vote.
The local authority elections will decide who gets 753 county council seats, 130 city council seats, 60 borough council seats and 683 town council seats.
The Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government said the ballot papers for all local authority seats except town councils will be yellow. Town council ballot papers will be pink. The European election ballot paper will be white and the referendum ballot paper will be blue.
In constituencies where there are no town councils, voters will put the local, European and referendum ballot papers into the same ballot box. To make the counting process easier, there will be a separate ballot box for town council ballot papers in the relevant electoral areas.
In such areas, the ballot papers for the other local authority seats and European poll and the referendum will go together into a separate box.
Due to the expansion of the EU in May, Ireland's number of seats in the European Parliament has been reduced to 13 from 15. Most of the constituencies were renamed in this process although Dublin constituency was not. Dublin retained its four seats in the reorganisation.
Munster was renamed South and the number of seats was reduced by one to three. Co Clare moved from the constituency into the North West constituency, formerly known as Connacht. The number of seats in the North West is unchanged, at three.
The Leinster constituency was renamed East. While the counties in the constituency are unchanged, the number of seats was reduced from four to three. In the referendum, voters will be asked to mark the box for Yes if they approve of the proposed amendment.
The first stage of the count process will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, when ballot papers from the European, local and referendum polls are separated. This process will not apply for town council ballot papers.
The separation of papers will take place at 30 centres throughout the State. There will be one centre in each county, with two each in Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Tipperary.
It is at the county centres that the referendum votes will be counted. Results from each county area will be transmitted to the Custom House in Dublin, where they will be collated. A result from the referendum is expected around tea-time.
European election ballots will be sent to four regional centres for counting. Votes in the Dublin constituency will be counted at the Simmonscourt extension at the RDS in Ballsbridge. The East constituency votes will be counted at Puddenhill Activity Centre, Garristown, Co Meath. Votes in the North West will be counted at the Mount Errigal Hotel, Letterkenny, Co Donegal. The European election count will begin on Sunday at 9 a.m. While there will be no formal announcement of results until after 9 p.m., tally predictions will be available from the middle of the day.
