Westmeath sees 12.8% rise in registered voters amid national reform push

A concerted effort is underway to update and manage the electoral registers nationally, and Westmeath County Council has made significant strides in updating and managing its electoral register, according to a detailed update delivered by Pat Murtagh, Senior Executive Officer, to council members this week.

Mr Murtagh explained that the Electoral Commission, which is responsible for overseeing the register of electors, in May made a number of recommendations aimed at helping local authorities improve their performance in the area of organising their electoral registers.

Among these are increased funding for local authorities, enhanced cyber protection, new public awareness campaigns, and the creation of multi-annual electoral register plans at the local level.

In addition, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has provided the resources to enable Westmeath County Council dedicate two staff to work on the register for the next eighteen months. They will be addressing the inaccuracies in the register.

Mr Murtagh remarked that with three electoral events in 2024, last year had been a busy one for all involved in organising voting and working on the register, and the national electorate grew by 11% to almost 3.9 million people.

“The ease of online applications increased the volumes and made it easier for people to apply, and this was the first year of reporting to the Electoral Commission on our activities,” he stated.

During 2023 and 2024, Westmeath had already been updating its register, particularly using eircodes, PPSNs and dates of birth, which enabled it to identify duplications on the register.

Westmeath’s efforts also included public information campaigns on local radio, outreach to schools and community groups, and extensive engagement with the county’s Public Participation Network (PPN), which now includes over 900 member groups.

Between February 2023 and December 2024, the county saw a 12.8% increase in registered voters, rising by 8,850 people, and by the end of December 2024, there were 77,834 people eligible to vote.

“The number of transactions that the staff in Westmeath County Council would have processed was 12,209. The number of deletions was 2,420. Those transactions would be deletions, additions, changes of address, change of details, addition of dates of birth, PPSNs, etc,” Mr Murtagh told the meeting.

He explained that during that time, the council employed the equivalent of 1.75 staff on the register, bringing in additional staff during electoral events, when the pressure was on to get new people registered.

For 2025, the focus is on “data cleansing”, and on transition to the new voter.ie system, part of the national Local Government Electoral Registration System (LGERS) project. While the original target date for implementation in Westmeath was Q3 2026, Murtagh said the Council may be able to onboard as early as Q2 2026, thanks to the progress made in cleaning the data.

To date, over 2,800 register issues have been identified, with more than 2,000 already resolved. The remaining are expected to be addressed by the end of June 2025.

Murtagh also acknowledged the challenges posed by multi-use developments, where access to accurate occupancy data can be difficult. He welcomed the recommendation for clearer protocols to manage such complexities.

“As we move into a new phase of electoral register management, our priority is to ensure every eligible voter in Westmeath has a fair, secure, and accessible way to participate in democracy,” Mr Murtagh said.