USI claim over 20,000 new voters registered ahead of Marriage Equality referendum
By Cormac Duffy | Nov 26 2014
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) have released a statement claiming 20,210 new voters have been registered as part of the Union's push to register new voters ahead of the Marriage Equality referendum to be held next year. The total is double the estimated 10,000 voters that were anticipated to be registered by the initiative.USI's total excludes voter registration figures from UCD, where UCD Students' Union and UCD LGBT have claimed an estimated 4,500 voters registered. Based on totals provided by USI, UCD's total is the highest of any third level institution in the country, followed by 3,500 registered in UCC and 3,150 registered by Trinity College Dublin's Students' Union.The statement also quotes USI president Laura Harmon, who says "We had set a goal of ten thousand students registered - but Students' Unions should be proud of their work to get so many students primed and ready for the polling booth - they have put in enormous effort and long hours to secure registrations. When the referendum is eventually called, this work will pay off with a huge student effort to secure equal marriage for everyone."Harmon also thanked the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and Marriage Equality for their work on the wider voter registration campaign.