More people have votes in Cork than live in the county - report

More than 5,000 people have votes in Co Cork in excess of the number of eligible people found to be living in the county according to the 2022 Census, it has been disclosed in a new report issued by the Electoral Commission.

In its oversight report on the Electoral Register, the commission found that Cork County Council was one of eight local authorities with more voters on the register than people eligible to vote living in the county according to census data.

In Cork city, 90.5% of eligible voters, around 178,350 people, were actually registered, the Electoral Commission’s report found.

The report indicated that Cork County Council needs to improve its accuracy indicators. The accuracy indicators being used by the Electoral Commission include whether the personal public service number (PPSN), Eircode, and date of birth match the details given by the elector applying to register their vote.

“Based on reported data, the number of electors reported on the register compared with estimated eligible electors in Cork County, at 101.4%, is the seventh highest in the country,” states the report. 

“In the context of low levels of accuracy indicators this is likely to indicate a high level of inaccuracies on the Cork county register.

“The percentage of PPSNs collected at 19.9% is below the national average of 22.0%.

“The percentage of dates of birth collected at 60.0% is well below the national average of 72.4%. Eircodes collected at 57.2% is significantly below the national average of 69.8%. Combined dates of birth and Eircodes at 43.3% is also significantly below the national average of 56.0%.”

In the report, Cork County Council stated that duplicate registrations were identified during the registration application process by carrying out a search on each name or date of birth or PPSN for applications for new registrations and updates of details.

Individual electors were also contacted to confirm correct details to avoid duplication.

The data submitted by the council to the Electoral Commission showed that 6,597 entries were removed from the register between December 2022 and March 2024, primarily duplicates and entries for deceased electors and people who had moved away. In 2024 as a whole, there were 13,425 deletions from and 29,889 updates.

The report said there were many complaints by people who thought they were registered but were turned away at polling stations when their names were not found on the register.