An Coimisiún Toghcháin, Ireland’s independent electoral commission, will be visiting the ATU Galway City campus tomorrow for a voter registration drive.
Alongside the Students’ Union, the commission will be encouraging students to register and vote in this year’s Presidential election on 24 October.
An Coimisiún’s National Election & Democracy Study (NEDS) of the 2024 General Election found that the 18–34-year-olds surveyed made up the biggest cohort of eligible voters (68%) who have yet to register and so missed the chance to vote in the most recent election.
After meeting thousands of young people at Electric Picnic in August and at the Ploughing in September, An Coimisiún’s college registration and information drive is a further opportunity to meet young people where they are, and to encourage them to use their voice to choose Ireland’s next President after Michael D. Higgins.
An Coimisiún staff will be on campus answering questions about voting and encouraging students to register at checktheregister.ie before the 7 October deadline.
The following college visits are included in An Coimisiún’s campus programme leading up to the Presidential election:
- 10 September at the University of Limerick
- 15 September at Trinity College Dublin
- 23 September at Maynooth University
- 24 September at Dundalk Institute of Technology
- 25 September at University College Cork
- 30 September at TU Dublin, Grangegorman Campus
- 2 October at ATU Galway City
- 6 October at DCU
Art O’Leary, Chief Executive of An Coimisiún Toghcháin, stated, “Already during this Presidential election campaign, we have met so many young people who are engaged, interested and want to use their votes to decide who will be our next President, but who have questions about registration and voting.”
“Roughly 60,000 young people have turned 18 since the last general election and many of them are now in college, including here in ATU Galway, getting ready to vote in their first ever election.”
