31 July 2024 – An Coimisiún Toghcháin, Ireland’s independent electoral commission and the National Election and Democracy Study (NEDS) Management Board has today published the latest data collected as part of Ireland’s new National Election and Democracy Study.

These are the findings from two surveys conducted to coincide with the 7 June elections: a post-election online survey of just over 3,000 voters in the Local and European Elections and a face-to-face survey of close to 900 voters in the Limerick Mayoral election.

There are two distinct elements of the NEDS. The first focuses on broad issues around the quality and functioning of Ireland’s democracy with a particular emphasis on areas relevant to the remit of An Coimisiún Toghcháin. This includes questions surrounding voters’ experience of voting and registration, levels of political interest and knowledge and the sources of information used by voters. This data will be used to benchmark An Coimisiún’s performance and guide its future initiatives.

There was a particular focus on voters with disabilities in the online survey in line with An Coimisiún’s statutory role to review and report on electoral events from this perspective.

Some key findings in relation to respondents’ experience of voting include:

• 98% of voters in the Local and European Elections found the voting experience very easy or quite easy.  94% were confident they understood the ballot papers and how to vote. A similar proportion (95%) of those surveyed in Limerick believed that the ballot papers were easy to understand.
• 23% of those surveyed online living with a disability who did not vote cited their disability or illness as the reason they did not vote.
• 32% of online respondents agreed that the length of the ballot paper impacted how they voted increasing to 38% for those reporting a disability. Those who reported a mental or physical condition or disability were more likely (20%) to have found the multiple ballot papers confusing compared with those reporting no disability (12%). Among those surveyed in Limerick who reported having difficulty understanding the ballot papers, the length (61%) and number (60%) of ballot papers posed the greatest challenges.
• 92% of voters surveyed in Limerick believed that Irish elections are well managed, while only 5% did not. This was higher than for the online respondents where 78% agreed Irish elections were well managed and 12% disagreed.
• Of newly registered voters in the online survey, 29% of those were prompted to register by either social media, TV or radio ads which was a focus for An Coimisiún Toghcháin before the elections. 98% found the registration process very or quite easy with a similar figure of 95% satisfaction with the registration process in Limerick.
• 12% of voters surveyed online said they did not get the assistance they needed from the polling staff. There was a higher level of satisfaction amongst Limerick voters with 94% of voters requiring assistance in Limerick satisfied with the assistance received compared with 6% who were dissatisfied.
• Regarding knowledge of the voting process, this was high in a number of areas with 81% of voters knowing for example that ballot papers with messages or writing do not count. However, 38% of online respondents incorrectly thought polling cards are needed to vote and nearly a quarter thought that the pencils in the polling stations had to be used for a vote to count indicating the need for more communication and voter education in these areas.
• Only a third of voters (33%) were aware that 16 and 17 year olds can pre-register so that when they turn 18 they are automatically registered to vote.

Welcoming this data, the Chief Executive of An Coimisiún Toghcháin, Art O’Leary said:

“The data published today again highlights the value of An Coimisiún Toghcháin’s National Election and Democracy Study, a longitudinal survey which will paint a rich and accurate picture of voters and voter experience in the years ahead. The results of these surveys will capture developments in people’s thinking about democracy over time and will make a serious contribution to the debate on further electoral reform in this country.

“While it is positive to see continuing strong levels of trust in Ireland’s elections and to see our own communications campaigns contributing to people registering to vote, this research points to some noticeable gaps in education and awareness about voting and elections, which will help inform our work as Ireland’s independent electoral commission to improve and enhance participation in our democracy.”

The second part of the NEDS includes questions which are a key focus for academics in international Election Studies around the world regarding whether and how people use their vote, motivations around voting choices, government satisfaction, political attitudes and the factors that influence these.

Questions in this part of the study were selected by the academic members of the NEDS Management Board and are being made publicly available to allow research and analysis by academics and other stakeholders such as the media, political parties, politicians and the public more broadly.  Collecting data in these areas also allows Ireland to be part of comparative research on political and electoral systems and democracy.

The detailed findings can be viewed on a dedicated website www.neds.ie

– ENDS-

For further information, please contact:

Brian Dawson, Communications and Public Engagement Manager, 

An Coimisiún Toghcháin, The Electoral Commission,

086 0749344 Brian.dawson@electoralcommission.ie 

Editor’s Note:

1. The data is published and can be accessed at www.neds.ie.

It was gathered through two separate surveys:

• A Red C online poll of 3,045 respondents with fieldwork taking place from the 8^th – 15^th June 2024.
• A voters’ survey of 894 voters conducted outside 52 Limerick polling stations on 7^th June by Ipsos B&A.
• Further details on the methodology are contained in the slide decks on www.neds.ie. The raw data and codebooks are currently being made ready for publication and once this process is completed will be published on www.neds.ie.
• The NEDS is a key project under Strand A of An Coimisiún Toghcháin’s recently published Research Programme 2024-2026.

An Coimisiún Toghcháin, The Electoral Commission

An Coimisiún Toghcháin is a statutory, independent body, established on 9 February 2023 with responsibility for a broad range of electoral functions set out in the Electoral Reform Act 2022. An Coimisiún is central to Ireland’s electoral system, carrying out a range of existing electoral functions, including:

• the decision-making, oversight, secretariat and supporting services associated with explaining the subject matter of referendum proposals, the promotion of public awareness of referendums and encouragement of the electorate to vote at referendum polls; and
• the conducting of reviews and making reports in relation to the constituencies for the election of members to the Dáil and the election of members to the European Parliament.
• responsibility for the registration of political parties.
• making reports for the Minister in relation to local electoral boundaries. 

An Coimisiún is also tasked with several new electoral roles, including:

• preparing research programmes and conducting research on electoral policy and procedure, and providing advice, as required, to the Minister and Government.
• promoting public awareness of, and working to increase public participation in the State’s electoral and democratic processes through education and information programmes;
• overseeing the modernised Electoral Register, making recommendations and setting standards in relation to its maintenance and updating;
• the regulation of online paid-for political advertising, ensuring transparency in respect of online political advertisements during the period of an election or referendum campaign; (Legislation not yet commenced)
• responsibility for the investigation and monitoring of online disinformation, online misinformation and manipulative or inauthentic behaviour online during election campaign periods, as well as functions to prevent manipulative or inauthentic behaviours online. (Legislation not yet commenced)
• the preparation of ex-post reports on the administration of electoral events.

It is anticipated that the initial set of functions assigned to An Coimisiún will be expanded upon as it builds capacity and expertise.