Local Elections – Freephone Facility for Visually Impaired Voters

A Freephone telephone number has been set up for vision impaired voters in respect of the Local Elections.

The Freephone telephone number is: 1800 78 78 78.  

By dialling 1800 78 78 78 voters can hear the details of the candidates in each individual Electoral Area who are running for the Local Elections for Monaghan County Council on 7^th June 2024. Individuals may select to hear the names of the candidates for the following Electoral Areas in the order in which they appear on the ballot paper.

• • Ballybay-Clones Electoral Area
  • Carrickmacross-Castleblayney electoral Area
  • Monaghan Electoral Area

The ‘freephone’ facility may be used by vision impaired voters as often as they wish in the run-up to polling day to familiarise themselves with the candidates on the ballot paper. They may also use their mobile phone in the polling station on polling day to access this information.

The ‘freephone’ facility operates in conjunction with a ballot paper template (BPT). The ballot paper template is a transparent plastic device that is placed on top of the ballot paper. Vision impaired voters wishing to vote in secret should ask the Presiding Officer at their polling station to attach a ballot paper template to their ballot paper. Raised numbering and braille on the template guides the voter to the relevant openings that correspond to the candidates on the ballot paper. It is removed once the ballot paper has been marked and the ballot paper is placed in the ballot box, entirely indistinguishable from all the other marked ballot papers.

Vision impaired voters will also continue to have the option of marking their ballot papers with the assistance of a companion or Presiding Officer at the polling station.

Details of the candidates may also be viewed on the Notice of Poll on the website of the Monaghan County Council at https://monaghan.ie/localelections2024/