Over 70% of Laois residents can vote in the Presidential election

About 65,000 Laois people will have the right to vote in the Presidential election when the polls open on Friday, October 24.

As the campaign between Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys comes to a close, the Electoral Commission has published Presidential Election Register figures and count information.

The latest totals of presidential electors by constituency for voting provided to the Leinster Express / Laois Live show that a total of 64,816 people in Laois have the right to vote for who should succeed Michael D Higgins.

The electorate represents a sizeable 70% of the 91,657 living in Laois according to the 2022 Census.

The Electoral Commission says the final electorate figures will probably be different when results come in on Saturday, October 25 as there are likely to be adjustments at the constituency level in the time since these figures were provided to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage by local authorities.

More below photo of sample ballot paper from the Electoral Commission:

To be eligible to vote, you must be:

• An Irish citizen
• Aged 18 or over
• Registered to vote
• Ordinarily resident in Ireland

The polls open at 7am and close at 10pm. There will be three names on the ballot paper but the Fianna Fáil candidate Jim Gavin has withdrawn from the race due to a controversy over the non-repayment of money to a former tenant of his.

Voting in Laois will be overseen countywide by the County Registrar and Laois Returning Officer, Rory Hanniffy. He will also oversee the counting of votes cast in Laois on Saturday, October 25. 

The President is elected by proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV) as set out in Article 12.2.3 of the Constitution.

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The Presidential Returning Officer (PRO), Barry Ryan, will manage the election count at a national level in Dublin Castle Central Count Centre and announce the result. The PRO is assisted by 17 Local Returning Officers (ROs) who are responsible for the count process for each of the 43 Dáil constituencies. Count centre arrangements in Dáil constituencies will be published by individual Local ROS on their websites.

As with the last general election, the designated county Count Centre in Rice Nagle Sports Hall at the Scoil Chríost Rí / St Mary's CBS secondary school campus on the Borris Road in Portlaoise.  MORE BELOW PHOTO.

The General Election count at the Rice Nagle Hall in 2024.

The count will commence at 9 am when each RO will open the ballot boxes for their constituency in their count centre. Following administrative checks, the papers are sorted according to the first preferences shown on them. mo

The ROs send results of first count to the PRO in Dublin Castle, using a standardised format that includes total poll, spoilt votes, total valid poll and first preference count.

The results are checked and verified by the PRO and his team in Dublin Castle. Following the submission of all first count results, the PRO calculates the quota for election.

He also decides on the next steps regarding elimination of a candidate and distribution of transfers. The PRO announces the result of Count 1 and next steps and then directs Local ROs to move on to exclude candidates or move to Count 2.

ROs announce local results for their constituency about 10 minutes after the PRO communicates the result and it is published on the www.presidentialelection.ie website (updated throughout the day and after each count).

Any requests for constituency recounts are relayed to the PRO by ROs.