09 ELECTION / 2020 02 LESSON ACTIVITIES L O O K I N G B A C K A T G E N E R A L E L E C T I O N S - B O T H P A S T A N D P R E S E N T 20 Election 2020 – Results and Analysis at a Glance The 2020 General Election took place on Saturday the 9th of February. The election was called following the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil by the President, at the request of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on 14 January 2020. Test your knowledge by filling in the blanks. The 33rd Dáil will have ____ TD’s (Teachta Dála) who will represent ____ constituencies. The number of allocated seats per constituency varies. Roscommon-Galway constituency has three seats, whereas Carlow-Kilkenny has _____ seats. Locate your constituency on the map. How many seats are allocated to your constituency? Why have some constituencies more TD seats than others? Image Source: By Erinthecute - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86872192 Electorate and Constituencies: A constituency is an area that sends TDs to represent them in the Dáil. Constituencies are to be revised at least once in every twelve years in accordance with the census reports, which are compiled by the Central Statistics Office; under the Electoral Act 1997. The TDs (Teachta Dála) that represent each constituency are elected directly by the Irish people, otherwise known as the electorate. The electorate from each constituency elect their TDs to represent them in the Dáil during a general election. A general election must be held at least every five years by law. Activity: Compare the electorate in 2020 to that of 1982 from the following constituencies using the Irish Newspaper Archives. The Irish Newspaper Archives is free to schools through Scoilnet. Fill in the blanks in the below table by opening the following papers: Irish Independent, 10th February 2020, Page 16 – 20 Irish Independent, 22nd February 1982, Page 4 Constituency 1982 Electorate 2020 Electorate Clare 58,729 91,120 Laois-Offaly 110,839 Wexford 65,321 Wicklow 56,080 Donegal 125,911 Roscommon-Galway 69,598 Mayo 98,165 Data Challenge: According to the Constitution, there must be at least one TD for every 20,000 to 30,000 people. TDs provide a link between their constituents and the Government and Oireachtas. For example, when a constituent brings an issue to the attention of a TD, the TD may raise it in the Dáil as a Topical Issue or put down a parliamentary question, PQ, regarding it. Image Source: Irish Independent, 10th Feb 2020 Constituency Electorate Number of Seats Number of Seats Predicted Allocated Mayo 98,165 Wexford 113, 092 Dublin Central 61,998 Limerick City 77,643 Limerick County 72,165 Q1. Predict the number of TD’s representing each of the following constituencies. Q2. Use the Irish Newspaper Archives to access the Irish Independent election analysis. Compare your prediction to the number of seats to that of the actual number of seats allocated in each of the given constituencies. Q3. Do you believe that this system is fair? Explain your reasoning. Q4. A turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election. Using the Irish Independent election analysis, which constituency had the lowest turnout? Which constituency had the highest turnout? Q5. The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Act 1972 is an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which lowered the voting age for all national elections and referendums in the state from twenty-one to eighteen years of age. Cast a poll in your class to discover your class opinion on the following question. Should the voting age be a) Lowered to sixteen b) Raised to twenty-one c) Remain at eighteen? Voting: A ballot paper is used to cast votes in an election. The names of candidates appear in alphabetical order on the ballot paper, along with their photographs and their party emblem (if they wish). You are asked to give your vote in order of preference. This is because Ireland uses an electoral system called proportional representation with a single transferrable vote. You indicate your first choice by writing ’1′ opposite that candidate and ’2′ opposite your second choice, and so on. A mistake that often happens is voters place an X to indicate their choice instead of a number. When this happens, the ballot paper cannot be counted and is called a spoiled vote. A spoilt vote can also happen if the ballot paper was left blank or if the writing on the ballot paper cannot be understood. Activity: Below are two sample ballot papers. Demonstrate what a valid and spoiled vote look like using the templates below. Extension: Set up a mock election in your classroom using the above template as a ballot paper. Record the electorate for your classroom, count the total poll, calculate the percentage turnout, count the number of spoiled votes, and identify the valid poll. The Irish Independent Election 2020 Analysis indicates the number of valid and spoiled votes per constituency. To access the Irish Independent Election 2020 analysis, visit the Irish Newspaper Archives. Browse papers to get the 10th Feb 2020 edition of the Irish Independent. Go to page 16-22. Complete the table using the analysis figures. Constituency Total Poll Spoiled Votes Valid Poll % of Spoiled (Total amount Votes of votes cast) Carlow-Kilkenny (5) 74,189 546 73, 643 0.74 Cavan-Monaghan (5) 695 72,183 Clare (4) 519 59,495 Cork East (4) 401 54,544 Cork North-Central (4) 440 51,778 Cork North-West (3) 486 46,370 Cork South-Central (4) 317 57,140 Cork South-West (3) 288 44,338 Donegal (5) 647 77,452 Dublin Bay North (5) 645 71,606 Dublin Fingal (5) 451 63,440 Dublin Mid-West (4) 480 45,452 Dublin Bay South (4) 268 39,591 Dublin North-West (3) 343 32,386 Dublin Central (4) 297 31,435 Dublin Rathdown (3) 251 42,403 Dublin South Central (4) 515 43,291 Dublin-Dun Laoghaire (4) 357 62,293 Dublin South West (5) 629 67,565 Dublin West (4) 270 43,628 Galway East (3) 338 42,520 Galway West (5) 423 60,341 Kerry (_) 543 77,666 Kildare North (4) 382 50,945 Kildare South (4) 440 47,260 Laois-Offaly (5) 576 69,422 Limerick City (4) 355 46,129 Limerick County (3) 409 46,090 Longford-Westmeath (4) 500 56,383 Louth (5) 757 70,667 Mayo (4) 553 64,353 Meath East (3) 320 41,950 Meath West (3) 320 41,954 Roscommon-Galway (3) 330 45,612 Sligo-Leitrim (4) 489 60,680 Tipperary (5) 635 81,788 Waterford (4) 447 53,758 Wicklow (5) 559 71,320 Wexford (5) 549 75,073 Extension: Order the constituencies in order of percentages of spoiled votes with the highest percentage at the top and the lowest percentage at the bottom. News Article Imagine you are a journalist writing an article about the number of spoiled votes in the recent general election. In your article you must convey the importance of voting and detail how to avoid spoiling a vote. Image Source: The Irish Press, 11 June 1981 Image Source: Belfast newsletter, pg 5, 08 Jan 1920 Image Source: Drogheda Independent, 21 Jan 1933 Plan your headline and article by surveying articles that were written for previous general elections. The Irish Newspaper Archive gives teachers and students unrivalled access to primary source documents through national and local newspapers covering hundreds of years of Irish history. Over 60 newspapers are included in the archive with some dating back as far as 1738. Dates for previous general elections: 14 Dec 1918 24 Jan 1933 18 May 1954 11 Jun 1981 17 May 2002 24 May 1921 1 Jul 1937 5 Mar 1957 18 Jun 1982 24 May 2007 16 Jun 1922 17 Jun 1938 4 Oct 1961 24 Nov 1982 25 Feb 2011 27 Aug 1923 23 Jun 1943 7 Apr 1965 17 Feb 1987 26 Feb 2016 9 Jun 1927 30 May 1944 18 Jun 1969 15 Jun 1989 8 Feb 2020 15 Sep 1927 4 Feb 1948 28 Feb 1973 25 Nov 1992 16 Feb 1932 30 May 1951 16 Jun 1977 6 Jun 1997 How many votes are needed to get elected? At the count centre, the ballot papers in each box are counted and the total number is compared with the total number of ballot papers issued for that box - this is done to check that ballot papers have not been put into or taken out of the box since the poll closed. The numbers of ballot papers for each box are added together to determine the total poll. All the ballot papers are then sorted according to first preferences. Spoiled papers are removed and the valid poll calculated. (Total Poll – Spoiled Poll = Valid Poll) The quota is then established. The quota is a threshold number of votes which, if reached, secures the election of a candidate. It is calculated by: Number of valid votes Quota = + 1 (Number of seats)+1 Calculate the quota for each of the following constituencies. Constituencies Number Number Workings Quota of Valid Votes of Seats ퟕퟑ, ퟔퟒퟑ Carlow - Kilkenny 73, 643 5 + ퟏ 12,274 (ퟓ) + ퟏ Clare 59,495 4 Cork North-Central 51,778 4 Donegal 77,452 5 Dublin Central 31,435 4 Galway East 42,520 3 Kerry 77,666 5 Kildare - North 50,945 4 Laois – Offaly 69,422 5 Longford-Westmeath 56,383 4 Louth 70,667 5 Mayo 64,353 4 Meath - West 41,954 3 Roscommon-Galway 45,612 3 Sligo – Leitrim 60,680 4 Tipperary 81,788 5 Waterford 53,758 4 Wexford 75,073 5 Wicklow 71,320 5 You can check your answers by accessing the Irish Independent Election analysis (10 Feb 2020) from the Irish Newspaper Archives.