Youth Council urges young people in Offaly to register in time for General Election
1125 young people in Offaly have turned 18 since last year and will have right to vote
- Deadline for supplementary register may be as soon as 8th February
The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) is encouraging young people in County Offaly to make sure they are registered to vote, given that a General Election is just weeks away. If the election is held at the end of February, as widely expected, the deadline for inclusion on the supplementary register could be as early as the 8th of February.
James Doorley, NYCI deputy director explained: “We are especially anxious to ensure that the 1125* young people who have turned 18 in the last 12 months in Offaly are included in the electoral register and can exercise their democratic right.”
Any young person who is 18 years of age on or before the date of the election is eligible to vote. If they are not currently registered, they can do so by downloading and filling in the RFA2 form atwww.checktheregister.ie. This form must be stamped at a Garda Station and returned to the local authority before close of business on the registration deadline. Likewise, if a young person wishes to change their registration address, they need to complete an RFA3 form, get it stamped and return it to the local authority by the deadline which will be known once the election date is announced.
“Excellent work was done last year to get young people on the electoral register, especially since we published our study in September 2014 showing that 30% of 18 to 25 year olds were not registered.** However, with over 59,000 young people nationwide turning 18 in the last 12 months,* we need to work continually to ensure all are registered. For almost every election we get calls from young people who have missed the registration deadline and are disappointed that they cannot vote, we urge young people to make sure they are registered and not to leave it to the last minute, so that they can vote in the upcoming General Election ” concluded Mr Doorley.
Sources:
*CSO Data: Population (Number) by Sex, Single Year of Age, Province County or City and Census Year: Both sexes 14 years of age in Census 2011 > County by Single Year of Age
** NYCI BRIEFING PAPER 1: VOTER PARTICIPATION – key data from RedC/NYCI national survey on young people: http://www.youth.ie/
