Fergus Cassidy

(Part 1 is here, part 2 is here)

TO see how information taken from canvassing can make an appearance on polling day, let's take the following scenario:

Mary Soap wasn't at home in number 53, Somewhere Estate, when she was canvassed by Fine Failour. She's on the register of electors this time around, but wasn't in the 2004 local elections.

At 8pm on election night, Mary hasn't got time to go home for her polling card, but she has her drivers license with her. She goes straight to the polling station. Standing at the table she gives her name and address to the presiding officer. He/she asks Mary for for ID. He checks it, then calls out her name and register number.

The agent from Fine Failour sees a question mark written in beside Mary's name in his copy of the register from the party's canvass.

Now the serious stuff starts. The Fine Failour agent is jumpy. The houses where Mary lives have never been too friendly toward Fine Failour and there seems to be a late surge against the party coming from there since tea-time. He decides to challenge.

The presiding officer has to follow legal procedure on this and asks Mary three questions laid down by law; if she is the person whose name appears on the register; has she already voted in this election; has she reached the age of eighteen.

If she answers yes, no, yes, the presiding officer then makes another attempt to give her the ballot paper.

The swearing lady
The Fine Failour agent is still not happy. The presiding officer must then ask for an oath to be sworn. The 'I swear by Almighty God' one. An affirmation can be given as an alternative to the oath.

Once that's done, it's put up or shut up time for the agent. The only step which can be taken now is to accuse Mary of impersonation and her arrest becomes imminent.

She is not allowed to vote and the polling station has closed by the time the garda are finished their enquiries.

If Mary is charged with impersonation, the case goes to court. If the Fine Failour agent fails to support the charge in court, or Mary is acquitted, the court may order the agent to compensate her. What's a vote worth? "A sum not exceeding IR£500", reads the legislation.

Not a lot really. Years ago the figure was even lower and during the second 1982 election, I witnessed voters being challenged. It was in a constituency with a high number of flats. Few were prevented from voting but the big parties wanted to get the word out that the were on high alert for large scale personation.

Not enough voters know about what exactly these people sitting at the election table are up to. Many presume that ANYONE sitting at the table is an official. They're not.

The inside of a polling station isn't a neutral zone. Candidates and parties have eyes and ears in there, watching everything that happens.

You have no legal obligation whatsoever to engage with a candidate's agent. They must relate to you through the presiding officer. If an agent addresses you directly, you can choose to ignore the remarks.

I've seen some of them ask questions of voters such as how long have they been living in their home. And who else lives there. They have no right to question you, however touchy feely it might all seem. The only questions you have to answer will come from the presiding officer.

Don't get lippy though, remember, by law these agents can stop you from voting if they accuse you of impersonation.

Seems a very high price to pay for someone's suspicions. I'm not comfortable with the possibility of having my vote taken away by people who have very little to lose if they're wrong.

I'll lose something much more valuable.

Challenging Times (part 1 is here)

AFTER the first complete canvass is finished, blood, sweat (and maybe tears) are spent scrutinising the results and transferring them to the master register of electors. This is the bible for the rest of the campaign.

The marked register is examined for where the support lies, taking note also of the level of 'Don't Knows' (DKs). That's an indicator of how much the election may be 'in play'.

Local canvass results, plus a general word of mouth impression of what major issues came up on the canvass, are passed on to national headquarters of the big parties for analysis.

This partly explains the present shapeless nature of the current campaign. The parties and candidates are in sonar mode. That'll change soon enough.

Back to the canvass. With maybe a week to go to polling day, canvassing moves up a gear. Armed with feedback from headquarters, canvassing might concentrate on specific issues, with leeway for local candidates to do their thing.

Leaflet drops are a speciality at this point. They use up less time on the doorstep and can also be targeted to specific roads, estates or areas.

Leafleting is also an invaluable part of vote management for some parties, say with voters in the north of a constituency being asked to give number 1 to Mr North and number 2 to Ms South.

This is one reason why the initial full canvass is so important: identifying supporters.

The big day: action stations
When you walk into a polling station and locate the table for your area, the presence of many of the people seated in front of you is explained by the canvass.

Each candidate in an election is entitled by law to have an agent (or their representatives) inside the polling station for the duration of the poll.

Generally, only the bigger parties have the numbers to make this a reality in every polling station.

In larger stations, you should see about five people seated at your table. Two of these will be officials working for the returning officer, who is responsible for running the entire poll in a constituency.

These officials are responsible for issuing ballot papers and marking off the names of those who have voted.

The other three will, in general, be agents of FF, FG and Lab. They may look all official sitting there but they're there for the good of their health. Not yours.

The key to their presence lies unfolded in front of them: the marked-up chunk of the register of electors from the canvass.

Secret agents
These folks are the dedicated followers. It's a long, long day, big chunks of it where nothing much happens. They must stay put by law and require permission from the returning officer to leave the polling station.

I once witnessed feeding time in a polling station and could identify which party each agent represented by what they were eating: piping hot meat and three veg for the FFs; meat salad for the FGs and ham sandwiches for Labour.

These agents have two main roles. The first is the most important: marking off who has voted from their register. That information is relayed back to the candidate's agent who can then form a bigger picture of turnout. 'Where are the voters from Trees Estate? Oh, there's a funeral on. Phew! I mean that's sad.'

There may be voters on the canvassed register who have 'lift' beside their names. These have asked to be brought to the polling station and the ferrying has to checked military style.

(My father used to take enormous pleasure in accepting a lift from 'that shower' and then 'voting for the other crowd'. Genius.)

Is it yourself that's in it?
The second task of the party's agent at the table, and this is significant from a voter's point of view, is to challenge any attempt to personate. In a tight race, every vote counts. Or maybe not.

Once you're on the register of electors (or supplement), you're entitled to vote. No ifs or buts. No polling card? No problem. But you may be asked by officials for proof of identity.

You approach the presiding officer at your table. If you've no card, you tell the officer your name and address. He/she will then call out your name and polling number (for the benefit of the eyes-down agents), stamp the ballot paper and then hand it to you.

But before the ballot reaches your outstretched hand, someone speaks and there's a challenge. You are about to witness the candidate's agent in action and it could lead to you being stopped from voting and brought to a station of a different kind.

Next post: arrested development feat the Swearing Lady

Damian and Adam write about dealing with canvassers when they call to the door. But persuasion is not the only thing on their minds.

Canvassing provides information crucial for the running of the campaign, up to and including polling day.

The big parties run the canvass like a military operation. They will aim to complete a full canvass at least once. They have the bodies (and the moolah) to achieve this. In some constituencies, a second full canvass may even be possible.

No effort is spared on the first canvass to make sure it's thorough i.e. everywhere a vote registered is called to. Speed in getting this done is vital.

With us, agin us and DKs
Armed with a copy of the electoral register, a canvasser's main task is to find out what way each person will vote and record it beside each name. Of particular importance is to note accurately those voters who indicate clear support for their candidate(s) or party.

So if a voter says they think Mary Soap (Fianna Fail) is a great worker, then FF goes in beside their name.

Next up in importance is to record those voters who are clearly hostile to Mary Soap and/or her party. Experienced canvassers won't waste time trying to change minds but will look for a number two, three etc vote. If the hostile voter doesn't indicate who they support, 'Other' is marked beside the name.

That leaves the 'Don't Knows' or DKs. Canvassers are asked not to second guess the voter's intentions. If the voter is neither friendly nor hostile, that puts them in DK territory. A high level of DKs is no bad thing for the candidates at this early stage.

Experienced canvassers are highly valued because of their 'sniffing' abilities and no group of rookie canvassers is sent out without a veteran by their side.

Divide and conquer
With the first canvass completed, the veteran tallyers can get to work. They can now start dividing up the electoral register and get the view from 30,000ft. Copies of the 2002 general election and 2004 local election canvasses come in very useful here for comparison purposes.

The areas where the candidate received good support can be isolated and less attention paid to them. They might get a reminder call nearer polling day but they're presumed to be in the bag.

The level of DKs is then looked at. If it's high, local knowledge might reveal it was a bad canvass and support is actually higher. Nonetheless, the DKs will be singled out for special attention from here on in.

If they're in a cluster together, there could be a specific local issue at play. The campaign team may then take action by leafleting the area or announcing a commitment to provide relief/funding etc.

The candidate will be directed to the DKs and will personally call to as many as possible.

If a second full canvass takes place, the aim will be to have it finished at least three or four days out from polling day. This allows for specific targeting but also provides enough time for drastic measures if required.

Getting the vote out
I'll write about canvassing and its role on polling day in the next post.