'Very concerning': Significant number of spoiled votes in Donegal constituency

One in every eight voters who turned out for the Presidential Election in the Donegal constituency spoiled their ballot.

In all, there were 6,434 spoiled votes of the 50,810 papers cast in the constituency.

The turnout in Donegal was actually higher than in the last Presidential election in 2018 when there was a 34pc turnout. This time, the Donegal turnout was 39.76pc with the overall votes cast, 50,810, also significantly higher than the 40,256 who cast a vote seven years ago. 

However, the spoiled votes were significantly higher than ever in the constituency.

“Very concerning,” noted experienced Fianna Fáil TD Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher. “That has to be analysed, why the people were doing that. I think they were frustrated and they did that.

“They're unhappy, I don't know, but we have to analyse that.”

In the last four Presidential elections the numbers of spoiled votes in Donegal were 734 in 2018, 328 in 2011, 190 in 1997 and 159 in 1990.

In 67 of the 267 boxes in the Donegal constituency, spoiled votes outnumbered the votes for Heather Humphreys.

“People in power have to stand up and be counted for this,” Fine Gael Senator Manus Boyle told Donegal Live. 

“There are a lot of spoiled votes throughout the country.

“They need to take the feelings of everyone in the country into view. It is obvious that people feel that their views aren’t being heard. I really think they have to look at where this is going now.”

Some of the spoiled votes had messages written including: “No democracy”; “None of the above”; “Scumbags”; and “None. Wasters”. Several ballots had the name of Maria Steen - who did not get enough backing to enter the race - added by voters.

Many also had messages like “she was only 10”, referring to a 26-year-old man alleged to have assaulted a 10-year-old girl in Dublin at an accomodation centre for asylum seekers. 

“Ruined vote, just like state of Ireland now,” wrote someone else on a ballot in Donegal, while another added: “Forced to leave Ireland after being homeless for 10 months”.

100% Redress TD Charles Ward said that he could “totally understand” the spoiled votes. 

“We have a system here that is outdated and needs to be updated,” he said. “This now will be a step forward where we make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. 

“Everyone has a right to vote and everyone has a right to spoil their vote. I understand their frustration, but I also understand that we need to modernise this and make sure that it doesn’t happen again and that everybody has a voice.”

The highest percentage of spoiled votes in the Donegal constituency were in the Lifford-Strabane local electoral area, which saw 14.25pc of votes spoiled, a total of 723 ballots. The highest number of spoiled ballots were in Letterkenny, where there were 1,140 spoiled votes. 

In the Inishowen local electoral areas there were a total of 1,504 spoiled votes (846 in Buncrana and 658 in Carndonagh) with 12.9pc of the 11,640 votes cast across the peninsula spoiled.

“That doesn't surprise me when you only have two candidates in play,” Sinn Fein TD Padraig Mac Lochlainn said. 

“I think that if you look at the votes for a number of candidates who are in play…obviously Fine Gael blocked their councillors, Fianna Fáil pretty much did the same. 

“You would expect people to say, ‘well, I don't have a candidate, I can back so I'm going to spoil my vote’. I think there's a reflection for future elections from this.”

Former TD Thomas Pringle, who backed Catherine Connolly, said it was important for people “not to pander that”.

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“It is another way of people speaking but the important thing on the left is not to pander to that,” Mr Pringle said.

“If this was a general election, there would actually be candidates who would be getting those votes, so that's fair enough and that's the way that people want to vote.

“The way to ensure that that vote doesn't grow is not to pander to it, it's not to try and meet it, it's to try and show that there's an alternative and that the alternative is there and the alternative has been put forward by Catherine Connolly in this election.”