It's election day here in Ireland...

[amcg]

Ho hum.

At least we'll see these thieving, lying cronies put out on their ear.

But will the next shower do any different? We shall see...

[HellToupee]

Meet the new boss , same as the old boss.

[amcg]

Yep.

We don't start counting here until tomorrow morning but it's going to be fascinating viewing. My other half is in Berlin for the weekend - just as well because I'm going to be glued to this for the entire weekend.

[amcg]

There's not much in this little country that works properly but damn if we don't do elections right.

For those Penners who are unaware, Ireland uses a PR-STV system (Proportional Representation - Single Transferable Vote) in our Dáil (parliament) elections.

Simply put, this means that instead of the winner-takes-all approach used by, say, the UK and USA, our parliament is divided on grounds more proportional with the vote across the country. There are multiple political parties and multi-seat constituencies. When voting, one can indicate multiple preferences.

We also don't do e-voting, thank the Lord, which means that the holding of an election and the counting of votes takes from 2-3 days. It's an old-fashioned but reliable pen and paper system and it's brilliant.

Typical scenario:

VOTING DAY
- My consituency has 5 seats for parliament. There is a list of candidates, A-M, some representing different parties, some from the same party, some independents.

- I cast my vote, listing the candidates in order of preference. I can either indicate my first preference only, number them all in preference (A-M) or somewhere inbetween. I have voted for my top six favoured candidates in order.

- People from all parties have the right to watch the voting boxes from the moment they are opened until the moment they are sealed (with old-fashioned string and a wax seal).

COUNT DAY
- The voting boxes are opened at the count centre. Votes are sorted by counters and legions of tallymen take an initial tally of first preference votes. These unofficial tallies are often done on an agreed joint basis between parties as they serve all equally.

- All 1st preference votes are counted.

- After the first count, nobody has gained enough votes to be elected. Candidate M has come last; he is eliminated and Candidates A-L are waiting and wondering how many of M's voters' 2nd preferences will go to them.

- After the distribution of M's 2nd preference votes, Candidate A has gained enough votes to be elected. Candidates B-F are then waiting and wondering how many of A's 2nd preferences will go to them.

- Wash, rinse, repeat. Depending on the number of candidates in the constituency and the number of seats to be filled there could be as many as 16, 17 or even more counts.


It's trustworthy, accurate and transparent. Takes a bit of time, especially when recounts are called for in a very close vote (we've got one still going on right now in Galway for the final seat there) but that's ok.

Beyond the above, the length of time and the process involved serves as a fantastic way to inform and engage the electorate as to how the process works and, importantly, exactly where their vote has gone. And, very importantly during a contentious elections, this drawn-out process gives all concerned space to come to terms with the result.

But of course we have some who continually call for the introduction of electronic voting. Off with their heads, I say!