Voting is under way in the 2024 general election. Polling stations around the country opened at 7am and close at 10pm, at which time The Irish Times will publish an exit poll, indicating which way the electorate is leaning.
Pat Leahy reports that Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil appear to be in a near dead heat at the end of the campaign, with a surge in late voter registrations adding to the unpredictability of the outcome.
Key Reads
- Election 2024: How do I vote? How does the voting system work and everything else you need to know
- How The Irish Times will cover the results and key times to watch out for
- Still unsure on how to vote? Use this tool to see which candidate matches your views
- Find out who the candidates are in your constituency
Don’t write up Louth, up the Dubs, up Mayo
An Coimisiún Toghcháin’s head of electoral operations Tim Carey has warned voters not to write anything but numbers on their ballot papers.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland he reminded voters to “start with the number one and then work your way down the ballot with as much or as few candidates as you want. Don’t write up Louth, up the Dubs, up Mayo, don’t comment on one of the politicians or anything like that because if you do your vote may not be counted.”
He also warned people against taking selfies in the booth. “Take a selfie outside the polling station by the sign, but not inside the polling station.”
Care said people should also make sure their ballot is properly stamped at the polling stations.
“If that is not done, and in a very small percentage of cases it is not because they are busy or they just forget, your vote won’t count – it is actually an invalid vote,” he said. “So, make sure it is stamped.”
And in case you miss it, this is how we will be covering the count. It’s an all hands on deck kind of affair.
Simon Harris has aid he was “feeling really good today” as he arrived with his family at Delgany National School in Co Wicklow to vote just before 7.30am.
“I’m feeling really hopeful, hopeful in terms of the election, but hopeful for the future of our country,” he said.
“I wanted to vote early because I now want to head across our country today, continuing to encourage everyone to get out and have their say in this election.”
Asked whether he was glad the campaign was over, the Taoiseach said he had enjoyed the campaign and making a pitch for his vision for the country’s future.
He said he would be working up until polls close at 10pm and is expected to travel to counties Carlow, Laois, Monaghan and Tipperary, as well as Dublin.
Our voting system is many things but uncomplicated is not one of them. How does it work? Sarah Burns has some answers.
Still undecided? That’s okay, we have you covered on that score too. We’re not going to tell you who to vote for, like, but the WhichCandidate voting aid tool might help you to find out who you agree with on a range of policies
“The people of Ireland will vote for freedom.”
That is Elon Musk’s view anyways, for what it’s worth. He took to the platform formerly known as Twitter overnight to share it. He also shared a video of a lot of people walking around flying the tricolour to a soundtrack of stirring music and chants of “Get them out”.
Now you know.
“Identifying target seats in Irish general election is an art more than a science. Unless there is a huge surge for one or two parties – as happened in 1992, 2011 and again in 2020 – gains and losses happen at the margins.” This piece from Harry McGee is well worth a few minutes of your day.
How do you vote? What do you need? Where should you go? We have all - or at least some - of your election questions answered.
Today will be a long enough day with not a huge amount happening - at least in terms of canvassing - but we will be with you to cover it all.
While we might be in the calm before the political storm right now, things will change at 10pm when the first results of an Irish Times/RTÉ/TG4/TCD exit poll conducted by Ipsos B&A will be released. That might give us an early and very tentative sign as to what will happen next and who will form the next government.
It won’t be definitive mind you. As the counts go on - and on and on and on - throughout tomorrow transfers and second, third and fourth preferences will come into play in a big way and until the last seat is filled we probably won’t be sure who are next Taoiseach will be and what party they will be from.
It is a long process for sure but isn’t that what makes it all exciting.
Polling stations have opened across the 43 constituencies in the State and voting will continue until 10pm.
Almost 3.7 million people will be eligible to vote. That is up 423,000 voters since the 2020 election with over 100,000 new registrations in the two weeks before the closing deadline.
If the turnout is decent we could see more people casting their vote than at any point in the history of the State.
Once the clock strikes 10pm, the ballot boxes will be sealed and securely transported to the 32 count centres where they will say until 9am tomorrow when the magic - and the madness - of an Irish election count will get underway in earnest.
