Accuracy more important than speed says Returning Officer after marathon Euro count

The five-seat Midlands North West Euro constituency, with a population of 1.8 million, which saw 27 hopefuls put their name on the lengthy ballot paper, presented unique challenges for Returning Officer, Marian Chambers Higgins.

“We prioritised accuracy over speed,” Ms Chambers Higgins told The Mayo News. “It is such a huge amount of papers to count and with so many candidates, we knew it would be challenging. The sorting was only done here for Mayo – fourteen other counties had to do what we did in sorting the votes on Saturday, separating the local papers from the Euro ones. And then there was the main count and the subsequent counts. We concentrated on efficiency, accuracy and courtesy.”

Fintan Murphy, who recently retired from the role, said there were logistical challenges presented by the enormity of the task.

“Among the thousands of little details that arose around this count, was the fact that physical structures had to be in place to hold the ballot paper that was 29 inches long,” he said. “The tables we usually use for counting were not deep enough so we had to create new ones. We used sheets of wood, on top of the old tables, to give the extra room so that we could get our counters to fold the papers towards the tallymen. It’s a little detail, but if we missed it, it would have made it a very difficult for the counters, and impossible for the tally people.

“The shelving had to be different to other elections, too,” Ms Chambers Higgins said. “Division spaces had to be constructed differently to accommodate the large number of different candidates and they too, had to be deeper.”

Truly great team

Ms Chambers Higgins said she had a truly great team. “We had three hundred and twenty counters, twelve supervisors and we had six floor staff, and they worked in various teams and supported one another internally, and of course, we had a top table team you couldn’t buy. They have a wealth of specialist experience in PR and in counting votes.”

Fintan Murphy likened the count to a military operation. “It was operated by Marian and everyone felt they had to give one hundred percent to Marian in her new role. And they did so, willingly. It has worked out well, and has enabled us to provide a decent service in order to make sure that the democratic deal is effective. The number of candidates make it tough too,” Mr Murphy said. “If you are dealing with ten candidates, to see a preference is one thing, but when you have twenty-seven it is tricky and it slows everything down.“

At times, as the candidates drew close, in various counts, the potential of a recount was whispered in the public area.

“It would be a logistical nightmare,” Mr Murphy said. “We would have to source a venue and secure the votes until the count could commence. We would have to sort out counters, and they mightn’t have the same appetite for a recount so soon after such a big count. I would expect there would be a delay of around three weeks, before we could organise a recount.”

When asked about the criteria for accepting or rejecting, a request for a recount, from a candidate, Mr Murphy said in a count if the size of the recent Euro one, if there was anything up to thirty votes between the remaining candidates, a recount could be granted.