ALISTAIR ROWAN,
Sir, - When the election result in a number of constituencies depends on a tiny number of votes, leading to recounts and requested rerecounts, what is the Irish electorate to make of the widespread inaccuracies in the record of those registered as eligible to vote?
I have twice informed the office of the recorder in Cork that the previous owner of my property at 4 Parkowen, Quaker Road, Cork, died in July 2000, yet voting cards are regularly sent for him to my address as well as cards in my own name. Not only this, but I also receive cards informing me that I am entitled to vote in Dublin, at another address.
Chatting about this with a man in a paint shop, I discovered that my experience is not unusual. Both he and his wife moved house two or three years ago, yet they are still on the register of voters at their previous address and at the new one in the same constituency. The three of us could, had we chosen to do so, have voted twice and anyone could have pretended to be the late proprietor of my house in Cork.
Do these possibilities build confidence in our electoral process? - Yours, etc.,
ALISTAIR ROWAN,
Department of History,
University College Cork.