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Right to vote.
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26.—(1) Subject to the subsequent provisions of this section, every person whose name is on the register of Dáil electors for the time being in force for a constituency, and no other person, shall be entitled to vote at the poll at a Dáil election in that constituency.
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(2) For the purposes of this section—
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(a) a person's name shall be taken to be on a register of Dáil electors if the register includes a name which in the opinion of the returning officer or presiding officer was intended to be the person's name,
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(b) the returning officer or presiding officer may and, if so required on behalf of any candidate, shall put to any person at the time of his applying for a ballot paper, but not afterwards, the following questions, or any one or two of them:
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(i) Are you the same person as the person whose name appears as A B on the register of electors now in force for the constituency of _____________?
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(ii) Have you already voted at this election?
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(iii) Had you reached the age of twenty-one years on _____________(date of coming into force of the register)?
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and unless such of those questions as are put to the person are answered, in the case of the first and third of those questions, in the affirmative and, in the case of the second of them, in the negative, the person shall not be permitted to vote,
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(c) the returning officer or presiding officer may and, if so required on behalf of any candidate, shall administer to any person at the time of his applying for a ballot paper, but not afterwards, an oath or (in the case of any person who objects to taking an oath on the ground that he has no religious belief or that the taking of an oath is contrary to his religious belief) an affirmation in the following form:—
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“I swear by Almighty God (or—do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm—as the case may be) that I am the same person as the person whose name appears as A B on the register of electors now in force for the constituency of _____________ and that I have not already voted at this election, and that I had attained the age of twenty-one years on __________(date of coming into force of the register).”
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and if such person refuses to take the oath or make the affirmation he shall not be permitted to vote.
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(3) Save as is provided by this section and by Rule 24 of Part I of the Fifth Schedule to the Principal Act, no question, oath, affirmation or objection shall be put or permitted at the time of the poll at a Dáil election as to the right of any person to vote, and no objection thereto shall be made or received by any returning officer or presiding officer.
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(4) (a) A person—
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(i) who is registered in the register of Dáil electors for the time being in force for a constituency but is not entitled to be so registered, or
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(ii) who is not registered in that register,
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shall not vote at the poll at a Dáil election in that constituency.
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(b) A person who contravenes paragraph (a) of this subsection shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
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(5) Nothing in this section shall be construed as entitling any person to vote who is not entitled to do so, or relieve him from any penalties to which he may be liable for voting.
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