“We expect this number to rise. We’re not finished yet” says USI President
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) today announced that Students’ Unions all over Ireland have directly registered 26,979 new student voters in the in the lead up to the referendum to remove the Eighth Amendment.
Speaking about the voter registration drives, USI President Michael Kerrigan said:
“We’re not surprised to see so many new students registering to vote, it’s clear students want to vote on this issue. Our campaign is all about ensuring students are registered to vote and encouraging them to vote ‘Yes’ on May 25th to remove the Eighth Amendment for a more caring and compassionate Ireland. We have already registered over 18,000 students in semester one, with Students’ Unions registering a further 8000 new voters in the last 3 weeks. With more voter registration drives to go, we expect this number to rise. We’re not finished yet.”
Mr. Kerrigan had this advice for any student not registered to vote:
“Students can go onto www.checktheregister.ie and see if they are registered to vote. All students have to do is fill out the RFA2 forms found on www.checktheregister.ie, get your local Garda to stamp the form, and post the form to your local County Council. Forms must be sent off before Friday because of the Bank Holiday Monday, otherwise, you will have to physically drop your form in.”
The Union is reminding students that Tuesday the 8th of May is the closing date for Local Authorities to receive an application for entry to the Supplement to the register of electors for the referendum.
USI is the national representative body for the 374,000 students in third level education on the Island of Ireland, and is a member of the national civil society campaign, Together For Yes.
For more information, visit usi.ie/voterreg/.