Sinéad Baker and Edmund Heaphy
Student voter registration drives across the country have seen over 24,000 students registered to vote since the end of October, with 3,000 registered in Trinity alone last week.
The drives, organised by student organisations, were held with the aim of registering students ahead of the upcoming marriage equality referendum, which is due to be held next spring.
Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) registered over 3,000 students to vote during their week-long campaign, with groups in UCD registering over 4,000 over a two-week period and UCC registering over 3,600.
YesEquality, a civil marriage equality coalition group formed by GLEN (Gay and Lesbian Equality Network), Marriage Equality and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, co-ordinated with unions and organisations in support of the drives.
Voter registration efforts became concentrated between November 1st and 25th, as the RFA1 form, which requires just a name, address and date of birth to be included on the draft register of electors, is perceived as the most straightforward method of registering large numbers of voters. It is still, however, possible to register to vote outside of this period.
Speaking to The University Times, Robert Milling, Auditor of Q Soc, Trinity’s LGBT* Society, said that the numbers showed that marriage equality “is an issue that’s really important to students”, commenting that it was “encouraging to see that so many people genuinely support the LGBT*Q community”. He said that there were still “numerous issues” in terms of equality that “are still unaddressed in Ireland” but that the referendum was “a huge first step”, thanking everyone for their support.
A survey conducted by TCDSU earlier in the year estimated that about 65 per cent of Trinity students were already registered to vote. While it is assumed that many of the 3,000 registered in Trinity last week were not previously registered, the union also had encouraged students already registered in constituencies across the country to move their constituency up to Dublin, and those that did so are included in the final figure.
Laura Harmon, President of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) said that students’ unions “should be proud of their work to double the target and get so many students primed and ready for the polling booth”. USI’s initial target was to get ten thousand students registered. She said that “students have historically been a potent force for equality”, pointing out that the students registered in the past weeks, many of whom have never cast a ballot before, have “decided to convert their voices to votes for the issues they believe in.” Unions affiliated with USI registered a total of 20,210 students. The total from UCD, whose students’ union is not affiliated with USI, brings the total in the country above 24,000.
Neither TCDSU President, Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne, nor a spokesperson for the union responded to requests for comment in time for publication.
Photo by Sinéad Baker for The University Times
