Article 16.2 of the Constitution provides

(i) All citizens, and
(ii) such other persons in the State as may be determined by law,
without distinction of sex who have reached the age of eighteen years who are not disqualified by law and comply with the provisions of the law relating to the election of members of Dáil Éireann, shall have the right to vote at an election for members of Dáil Éireann.

The election will be run according to the provisions of the Electoral Act, 1992 (also here) (as amended). Polling stations will be open from 7.30 am to 10.30 pm.

I was thinking about an all-singing all-dancing multi-media extravangnza for this post (cute image, suitable music, YouTube clip, and so on). I would have begun with an oh-so clever introduction about how, after all the debates and the posters etc, it was now down to the business end, the most important part of the process, including a perfectly formed paragraph on the optimum usages of proportional representation by the single transferable vote. I was then going to segue into an aching paen about how the most important right in a democratic polity is the right to participate in the democratic process by voting, locating this in a detailed exegesis of relevant constitutional and statutory provisions (the above are the highlights). And I was going to end with a learned political science discourse on the nature and consequences of the vote for government formation. And it would all have been leavened with knowing quirky quotes about voting, references to pop culture, and thinly veiled political satire. And, the links, the links – it would have been very link heavy, even by the standards of some of my posts.

But in the end, sparing you the reading of these tortured thoughts, I decided to boil it all down to the three words in the title.

Vote, vote, vote!