Did vote in the end.

But that said, it was more down to my knowing that if I didn't, I'd feel guilty tomorrow. This was the first time in the what, 11 years I've been registered that I haven't been particularly interested in it. Yes, of course, it's "only" the local elections and european (whatever happens there) parliament elections, but I was very, very close to apathy this time.

I did vote though, and I'm glad I did, because voting's important. Didn't give everyone a preference this time either, as many of the candidates hadn't been to see me, nor sent their leaflet to the house, so they were automagically out.

It was busy down the polling station, but I suspect that that's an indication of the level of anger that the public feel towards the government parties (FF and Greens), and a desire to oust them - though local government doesn't take any power from the Dáil, it may allow the populace to make a strong statement. I suppose we'll see in a couple of days!

Referendum - Vote for Beer.

Isn't it interesting, how referenda seem to get so much coverage, but so little attention? Approximately 40% of the electorage voiced their opinion, and it's considered a high turnout. Sheesh!

I wonder what's going to happen to Europe, now that we've tried to put the brakes on it. Will the Irish non-ratification of the Lisbon Treaty be the base of a bandwagon, upon which other slightly relieved countries will jump? Or will the Irish be kicked out, or more likely sent to the corner to consider what we've done...

If we have a chance to vote on a slightly revised Lisbon Treay, I hope that these things happen:

The Yes side explains why they think we should vote yes - and not just tell us it's good for us . We are all able to make our own minds up given the facts.

The No side explains why they think we should vote no - and not just tell us it's bad for us (based on whatever falsehood is sensational and convenient) We are all able to make our own minds up given the facts.

Campaigning, it seemed to me (and I came late to Lisbon thanks to some exams) was based on one of 2 premises - cajole the electorate into siding with you whilst telling them they don't need to know why they should, or scare the living colours out of them by bringing up the bogey issues (abortion, euthanasia and commissioners) that aren't even part of the Treaty under discussion!

How will our politicians develop the Treaty on our behalf? How will they find out what it is we were concerned about, if they didn't even give us a benchmark by which to decide? How will they know for instance that the electorate are concerned about the possibility of unanimity issues becoming Majority issues in the future on the whim of the Government?

Anyway, I've made up some beer, hope it ferments and might taste drinkable. Fingers crossed. Vote Yes for Beer. It's nice, and it helps you sleep. Just like the EU.

I want to post....

But can't quite think of anything important enough to post about. Oh, does anybody know how this voting in America works? I'll go and check and bring back what I learn.

20 mins later: I'm still confused, Wikipedia hasn't cleared it up for me. I'll give it five more minutes to see if I can find something useful.

Getting there. Found some info here and here about the primary system. It appears, and yes it does seem mad, that each state decides on a Republican and Democratic candidate - by different means. Some states have a caucus [kaw-kuss] where party members meet to decide who the state's preferred candidate is, whilst other states appear to have an election (madness!) called a primary, which makes a little more sense.

Some states have a limited electorate for these primaries where only registered party members can cast a ballot. What makes it even more odd, is that there are different rules for the Republican and Democrat parties!

So, what's happening now is that states local political parties are choosing their preferred candidate, and the results of all the caucuses and primaries will be gathered together later in the year to decide on the candidates. I think. Then there's an election, isn't there? More on that later.

Please correct me if I'm wrong - I need to watch more West Wing to be sure!

Seanad Elections, crunch time

I am lucky enough (over-privileged, some would say) to have a say in who makes up the Seanad this year. Trinity college / Dublin University graduates have a vote for three of the seats in the Seanad, and voting cards are probably with most of them by now. There are 11 candidates for 3 seats.

I have found certain websites for the candidates, and I've listed them below with 2 others that may or may not be of some help if you haven't made your mind up.

Voting closes on Tuesday next, the 24th July, at 11:00 am, which effectively means Monday's post to be sure.


http://www.electionsireland.org/biographies.cfm?election=2007S&cons=225&sort=alpha (A List)
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/82996


As many of the individual websites that I could find...
www.ivanabacik.com
http://www.shayconway.org/index.php?pr=Seanad_Election
http://www.stephendouglas.org/
http://www.dhedgar.ie/biography.html(David Hutchinson Edgar)
http://rosaleen.wordpress.com/(Rosaleen McDonagh)
http://www.senatordavidnorris.ie/
www.vote4reform.com (Seán O'Connor)
www.shane-ross.ie