The big day is finally here. After weeks (and years in some cases) of planning, campaigning, canvassing and finally voting – we can now turn our attentions to tallying, counting and announcements.
Counting commences today in the 2024 General Elections across the country and the LaoisToday team will keep you up to date through every twist and turn of the drama in Laois where 12 candidates are battling it out for the three Dáil seats.
We’ll start by bringing you information from the Nano Nagle sports hall in Portlaoise – a facility that is shared by the students of Scoil Chríost Rí and Portlaoise CBS on a daily basis – as the boxes are opened and the votes are sorted.
Under the guidance of Returning Officer Rory Hannniffy, a team of staff will sort the ballot sheets.
As they are doing that, the tallymen, representing all of the candidates, will monitor where the first preference votes have gone, box by box, area by area.
The final tallies will give a very good indication as to who has polled well and give an idea as to what the turnout is and what the expected quota will be in the constituency.
We’ll have tallies from some of the boxes probably within 30 minutes of the boxes being opened, and should have a full final tally by lunch time.
This is just the second time that Laois is a constituency in its own right having been a five-seater as Laois-Offaly in 2020 and in every election from 2011 back to the foundation of the state.
Laois was a three-seater once previously, in 2016, but on that occasion some areas in Kildare, around Monasterevin, were needed to boost the numbers sufficiently for a five-seater.
The result of a first count won’t be expected until Saturday evening with counting quite likely to carry on in to Sunday.
We will keep you updated every step of the way. Let us know where you’re following us from!
SEE ALSO – Check out all our 2024 General Election coverage here
