Eleven local authorities across the country have more people on their election register than the population that is eligible to vote.
An Coimisiún Toghcháin, the independent electoral commission, said it is deeply concerned at the legacy accuracy issues surrounding the multiple electoral databases – following a significant research project.
There are currently 31 electoral registers, the vast majority of which do not “talk to one another”, meaning duplication is common.
Some political scientists have estimated that up to 500,000 names are on the register that should not be, but an Coimisiún Toghcháin claims there is no way of accurately assessing that.
However, it expects there are hundreds of thousands of additional names across the registers.
It said some local authorities have a lot of duplicate or redundant or deceased names on the list, but others do not.
All of the 11 local authorities with too many people on the register are seen as having “below average accuracy indicators.”
Eight of these have the lowest accuracy indicators in the country and are: Sligo, Donegal, Galway County, Cork County, Carlow, Cavan and Mayo (in order of over-registration).
The Department of Housing and Local Government is compiling a single national register, which is due to be completed in autumn 2026.
