Offaly County Council has set up a Freephone number 1800 116644 to assist visually impaired voters in the upcoming Local Elections on Friday, 7th June 2024.
Voters can use the dedicated service to hear the details of the candidates running in their local electoral area. The order of candidates will be as they appear on the ballot paper.
Each individual candidate has a corresponding number assigned which will be on the Ballot Paper Template (BPT) available at the voter’s Polling Station.
Voters who may be visually impaired are advised to ask the Presiding Officer to attach a template to their ballot paper so that they can vote in secret and ensure their preference is accurately recorded.
Raised numbering and Braille on the template guide the voter to the relevant candidate location 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.
Offaly County Council has three Local Electoral Areas, so callers can press numbers 1 to 3 to select the correct area when prompted after the call is underway. This Freephone number 1800 116644 is available up until the close of polls at 10pm on Friday, 7th June. This means that voters can listen to the candidate line-up from the comfort of their homes as often as they wish in advance of polling day and, if they wish, can again listen to it on their mobile phones at the polling station.
For voters wishing to hear the details and order of candidates running in the European Elections on the 7th June 2024 in the Midlands–North-West constituency please call 1800 600 456.