An Coimisiún Toghcháin is hoping turnout in the presidential election will match the 44 per cent seen in 2018 when President Michael D Higgins was re-elected.
Art O’Leary, the chief executive of the electoral commission since it was established in 2023, said the body does not have a target.
“I would hope, rather than saying it’s a target, that it would be no less than the presidential election turnout the last time,” he said.
In a final canvass of voters on Grafton Street in Dublin, Mr O’Leary appealed to them to exercise their franchise.
RM Block
“Their vote is their voice and if they don’t vote, then they allow somebody else to speak for them,” he said. “You wouldn’t ever allow that to happen in any other part of your life.”
Since it began a campaign to encourage people to register to vote, the commission has signed up 60,733 new voters through websites CheckTheRegister.ie and Voter.ie.
Asked about the campaign to spoil votes, Mr O’Leary said a person “can choose to spoil their vote … All we say in response is that one of these candidates will be elected president, and if you want your voice to be heard, then you should vote for a candidate.”
He is also concerned about people unintentionally spoiling their vote. Voters sometimes list their preferences and then add something like “Up the Dubs” or “Mayo for Sam”, which a returning officer could consider a spoiled vote, he said.
There is growing concern about turnout because of the reduced number of candidates and controversy over Fianna Fáil nominee Jim Gavin’s withdrawal over money owed to a former tenant.
Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys has appealed to Fianna Fáil supporters to “lend” her their vote if they align more with her values than those of rival Independent Catherine Connolly.
Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne said many had told him “they wouldn’t or couldn’t vote for anyone but the Fianna Fáil candidate”. But he stressed “voting Gavin 1 and then Humphreys 2 would be a valid vote” for “a pro-European president who respects our European partners and is not afraid to call out Russian aggression”.
Sinn Féin Kerry TD Pa Daly said the party has been pushing the vote for Ms Connolly on social media to get people out and to ensure they do not spoil their vote. “There’s always a danger that due to polls, there would be some complacency setting in. Either spoiling your vote, not turning out or voting for Jim Gavin is going to be a vote for the Government,” he said.
The Kerry TD said the party had focused on trying to cover urban areas, as in towns such as Tralee, because it was more effective to cover as many houses as possible.
Fine Gael director of elections Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said he was meeting a “growing amount of people who maybe were undecided but are uneasy with Catherine”. He expected the gap will narrow. “Polling is a lot less accurate with a smaller turnout,” he said.
“If you’re going to have a turnout of mid-40s or less, it does mean half the people who’ve been polled probably won’t actually go and vote. So it does make the outcome much less certain.”
Labour TD Ciarán Ahern, a member of the liaison committee for the Connolly campaign, said there had been a big turnout push in the last 10 days, with daily social media posts saying “‘meet your friend for a coffee and go vote’ or ‘bring your dog out for a walk and remember to vote’”.
The Dublin South-West TD said the party had canvassed extensively door-to-door and “every morning and evening we’ve also had big banners that we’re bringing out to very busy areas of traffic, saying ‘go Catherine’”.
Polling stations will be open from 7am until 10pm. Met Éireann on Thursday night was forecasting showers on polling day, with sunny patches ultimately giving way to a cloudy afternoon.
