Michael O’Farrell
Investigative Correspondent
THE shocking ease with which an election result could be manipulated by a fraudulent voting campaign was laid bare this weekend as an Irish Mail on Sunday investigation exposed the utter inadequacy of the voter-registration system.
Without any questions or security checks whatsoever, two reporters were able to vote repeatedly in European, local and Dáil elections at polling stations in nine different constituencies.
In total, the reporters cast votes in local elections for councils in Westmeath, Meath, Kildare, Fingal and Dublin city.
The same two reporters also voted in the European North West, East and Dublin constituencies – and, for good measure, in the Dublin Central Dáil by-election.
To ensure the investigation did not alter the course of the elections in any way, each reporter voted legitimately only once and spoiled all further votes.
On each occasion, photographic evidence was obtained in the polling booth to prove that the vote was spoiled.
The exercise demonstrated just how easy it would be for a determined and organised campaign of fraudulent voting to alter the course of an election – despite the fact that the inadequacy and inaccuracy of the electoral register has been known for years.
Just two simple steps – linking the register of electors to PPS numbers and taking control of the registers away from local authorities who don’t communicate with each other – would immediately eliminate the problem.
But the introduction of these steps are years away and will almost certainly not be in place for the next general election.
In the meantime, almost half a million opportunities for voter fraud continue to exist on the electoral register, which came into force in February – after a E12m Government attempt to rectify massive inaccuracies.
An MoS analysis of this year’s electoral register, published last week, shows that there are still almost 500,000 inaccurate entries.
To put the issue in context, many elections are decided by no more than a few hundred votes while some contests are won and lost by only a handful.
Just a few hundred votes would have seen a different Government elected in most General Elections since 1981 – and a mere six votes would have been enough in 1992.
In the 2002 general election, 40pc of all last seats were won by fewer than 400 votes, while 20pc of final seats were decided by fewer than 100 votes.
But there have been even closer results. The Lis-boTreaty was passed in CarlowKilkenny by just four votes and Cork South Central 2002 general election candidate Kathy Sinnott lost out on a Dáil seat by six votes.
It would take only a small fraudulent effort to alter the course of an election – something that would be next to impossible to detect given the current problems with the register.
Many constituencies continue to have thousands more people on the register than there are adults resident in the area. The Taoiseach’s own heartland in Offaly is one, according to figures compiled this month by the MoS. In fact, Offaly continues to be the least accurate register.
There are 42,949 adults living in the county but 58,114 on the electoral register – a difference of over 15,000.
All local authorities but one – Galway City Council – still have between 5,000 and 23,000 too many voters registered.
‘We all witnessed this in our constituencies during the general election last year,’ Fine Gael Longford-Westmeath TD James Bannon told the Dáil in 2008.
‘People were being added to or subtracted from the register on apparent whims, with many receiving letters to inform them their names were being removed. In my constituency, the numbers on the register far exceeded the population figures,’ he said. Internationally, it is accepted that no more than 85pc of adults will ever register to vote. Yet when the MoS compared the adult population of each county to the regis-teusing census figures, most were found to have thousands more registered voters than they should have.
Using the 85pc benchmark, Cavan County Council has over 19,000 too many names on its register. Wexford County Council has more than 23,000 too many and 8,000 more than adults actually living in the county.
Although voter fraud – a criminal offence under the Electoral Acts – has been frequently acknowledged in past elections, no successful prosecutions for electoral fraud have even been taken. None of the local authorities contacted by the MOS this week even knew of a case that had ever been considered. The only attempted prosecution involved Charles Haughey’s former election agent, the late Pat O’Connor, in 1982. The case collapsed on a technicality but Mr O’Connor became forever known in political folklore as ‘Pat O’Connor, Pat O’Connor’.
Last year, a report by the Oireachtas Environment, Heritage and Local Gov-ernmenCommittee recommended that control over election registers be removed from local authorities and given to a new independent electoral commissioner’s office.
It also recommended that voters should be forced to allow their PPS numbers be logged against their name in the register – a move that would immediately allow cross-referencing between different areas.
The committee found that ‘serious errors’ occurred because of ‘the lack of priority afforded’ by councils to the task, and a wide variety of practices.
‘No central authority is responsible for electoral operations,’ said the committee, which blamed mistakes, omissions and fraud for the problems.
‘Running elections is not a core function of local authorities. Indeed, it is not a function that appears to demand attention,’ the report found.
‘It can, therefore, be questioned if it gets the priority it warrants.’ In February, Environment Minister John Gormley published yet another report on the establishment of an Electoral Commission in Ireland which will eventually be tasked with compiling and maintaining an accurate register. The issue was one of the Government’s commitments in its Programme for Government.
But the Electoral Commission could have been established years ago had the Fianna Fáil-PD Government not voted down Labour Party legislation to set it up in 2005.
THE ABOVE STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE IRISH MAIL ON SUNDAY ON 07/06/2009. Author, Michael O’Farrell, Investigative Correspondent
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Why you’ll still be able to vote early and often in this Friday’s elections
‘Voters added to the register on a whim’
By: Michael O’Farrell
Investigative Correspondent
FRAUDULENT voting could decide the outcome of Friday’s local, European and Dáil by-elections, an investigation by the Irish Mail on Sunday has found.
Despite recent efforts to rectify the notoriously inaccurate electoral register almost half a million opportunities for voter fraud still exist.
Despite Government efforts to update the electoral register, an MoS analysis of the electoral register shows there are still at least 491,040 inaccurate entries. Many constituencies continue to feature an electorate much greater than the actual population of voting adults.
And Co. Offaly – the political heartland of Taoiseach Brian Cowen – is among the worst offenders. There are 42,949 adults living in the county but 58,114 on the electoral register – a difference of more than 15,000.
When figures are adjusted to account for the fact that many of those who are entitled to vote will never register themselves, Mr Cowen’s constituency is found to have at least 21,000 too many names on its electoral register.
In the context of an electorate that tips the 100,000 figure – Offaly is just half of the Laois-Offaly constituency – those 16,000 votes could make a huge difference.
And Offaly is not alone.
Co. Cavan has 19,000 more voters than residents, and Co. Wexford has 23,000 too many names, all largely thanks to population increases, greater mobility and inefficient ‘pruning’ of the deceased from the register.
Election lore teems with tales of candidates’ fates being decided by just a handful of votes.
In the 2002 general election, one fifth of Dáil seats were decided by less than 100 votes – including children’s rights campaigner Kathy Sinnott in Cork South Central. She lost out on becoming a TD by just six votes.
The Government embarked on a e12m drive to rectify the register ahead of the last general election. But by the time polling day arrived in May 2007 all but one local authority – Galway City Council – had between 5,000 and 23,000 too many voters on their books.
Fine Gael TD James Bannon last year told the Dáil of the chaos in the run-up to the 2007 election: ‘People were being added to or subtracted from the register on apparent whims, with many receiving letters to inform them their names are being removed,’ he said.
‘In my constituency, the numbers on the register far exceeded the population figures.’ Last year, a report by the Oireachtas’s Environment, Heritage and Local Government Committee recommended requiring voters to supply their PPS numbers at polling stations to prevent voters presenting themselves at more than one polling station.
It also recommended that control over election registers be removed from local authorities and be given to a new independent electoral commissioner’s office.
The committee found that ‘serious errors’ occur because of ‘the lack of priority afforded’ by councils to the task, and a wide variety of practices.
‘Running elections is not a core function of local authorities,’ the report pointed out.
Environment Minister John Gormley published a report on the establishment of an electoral commission which would be tasked with maintaining an accurate register in February.
Although anecdotal evidence suggests that voter fraud takes place regularly, no successful prosecution for electoral fraud has ever been taken.
The only attempted prosecution involved former taoiseach Charles Haughey’s election agent, Pat O’Connor, in 1982.
The case collapsed on a technicality but the late Mr O’Connor became forever known in political circles as ‘Pat O’Connor-Pat O’Connor’.
THE ABOVE STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED ON 31/05/2009 IN THE IRISH MAIL ON SUNDAY. Author, Michael O’Farrell, Investigative Correspondent
