20,000 new voters registered by Students’ Unions

Massive voter drive ahead of Equal Marriage referendum.

The Union of Students in Ireland has announced the registration of thousands of students on electoral registers around the country, as the student movement gears up for an historic campaign to secure marriage equality in the state.

Laura Harmon, USI President, said:

“Students  have historically been a potent force for equality – many of those registered in the last few weeks have never cast a ballot, but have decided to convert their voices to votes for the issues they believe in.

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 paid tribute to the work of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and Marriage Equality for driving a general voter registration campaign, and to Spun Out for National Voter Registration Day, held in campuses on 30 October.

Notes:

Registrations recorded during the registration drive do not take into account students who were already registered.  Of those registered in the drive, the amounts attributable to each Students’ Union are as follows:

IT Carlow SU 600

Cork IT SU 600

University College Cork SU 3500

IT Tralee SU 250

Limerick IT SU 264

Waterford IT SU 450

NUI, Galway SU: 3000

Maynooth Students’ Union: 2500

Galway Mayo IT SU: 1080

IT Sligo SU: 950

St Angela’s College, Sligo SU: 47

Athlone IT SU: 450

Letterkenny IT SU: 220

Dundalk IT SU: 100

St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra SU – 468

IT Tallaght SU – 700

Dublin City University SU – 800

Trinity College Dublin SU – 3150

IT Blanchardstown – 156

Dublin IT – 750

National College of Ireland SU – 175

Total – 20,210