Paperwork

On first glance the process of getting on the ballot paper for the Seanad election seems pretty trivial. All you need are a nominator, a seconder and then eight assentors all of whom are on the register of electors. Compared to the large number of signatures (or cash payment) required for the General Election or the even more restrictive rules for the Presidency, that seems fairly straight forward.

That is until you actually try to get all the names on a single sheet of paper in a short period of time. Of course the blame for that lies fairly squarely on my shoulders for not having organized this months ago but people do seem to have the most annoying habit of being out of town at exactly the wrong time. Secondly the 10 people all have to remember at which address they have registered their vote for the Seanad election. With most of my supporters being around my age people have moved house several times since registering. Unless they have registered their parents house or equivalent then their name may have been struck off the register without them even realizing.

So the plan is to head into the nomination office at 10am tomorrow when it opens. If I discover that someone is not on the register or has given the incorrect address then it gives me two hours to solve the problem. Hopefully it won't come to that though. Next up I have to have to traditional mug-shot taken for the ballot paper. Wonder if its more a hair up or a hair down type of a day ...