UCD student ineligible to vote in referendum despite applying at SU registration drive
By Brían Donnelly | May 22 2018
A UCD student from County Wexford has learned that they will not be included on the Register of Electors for the referendum on the Eighth Amendment on 25th May. The student applied to Wexford County Council at a voter registration drive held by UCD Students’ Union on Wednesday 2nd May. The deadline to register to vote was Tuesday 8th May. Correspondence sent to the student from the Council, dated 14th May and seen by the University Observer, read: “Your application was received in the office on the 9th May, 2018. Unfortunately, this was after the closing date of 8th May 2018. Therefore, you will not be on the supplement for the forthcoming Referendum on the 25th May, 2018.” UCDSU Education Officer Robert Sweeney told the University Observer by email that the forms from the registration drive were sent “on the day of the drive, which caught the last collection of that day.” “[On] the day of the drive the SU provided stamps and a list of the county council offices. Students were helped in identifying their county council. The SU offered to post the forms for students but also offered students the ability to post them themselves with free stamps from the SU.” A post on the UCDSU Facebook page states that 516 students registered to post during the drive, which lasted 3 hours. Sweeney also stated that students came to the SU for voter registration forms in the days after the drive. “[We] gave them [forms] and advised them to get it stamped and to and deliver it to their county council office.” When contacted about the matter, Life Society UCD stated that there were aware of some students who had not been registered by the deadline. At the time of publication, UCDSU President Barry Murphy did not reply to questions regarding the voter registration drive. UCD for Choice did not respond to requests for comment.