Traveller voter registration drive hears 'every vote counts' in Galway West Bye-Election
When the Connacht Tribune carried an article earlier this month advertising a voter registration event for Travellers, one of the organisers, Lee Anna Ward, and her family, was inundated with messages.The Westside woman’s mother phoned her, saying people were getting in touch to congratulate her after they saw Lee Anna's photo with an article about politics and wrongly assumed she was contesting the Galway West Bye-Election.
“I said ‘Mam don’t worry it’s not going to be me, I’d be too much of a hurricane up there’,” Lee Anna laughed about the crossed wires and the prospect of her representing the constituency in Dáil Éireann.
The Primary Healthcare Co-Ordinator with Galway Traveller Movement was speaking to the Tribune at Foróige Youth Centre in Ballybane, Galway City, at the start of an event she helped organise in collaboration with An Coimisúin Toghcháin, Ireland’s independent electoral commission.
“I always say myself, ‘I’m not interested in politics’, but here I am leading out a political register-to-vote event. When you know something is worthwhile for the community, you’ll jump on it,” said Lee Anna, who has voted in every election since she turned 18.
The event was hailed a success. A total of 44 Travellers were in attendance, and on the day 17 of them registered to vote in the upcoming Bye-Election to fill the seat vacated by Catherine Connolly’s election as President.
As well as checking the register to make sure they were eligible to vote, the event was used to pre-register Travellers aged 16 and 17, and to register those aged over 18.
Mock demonstrations also explained to Travellers how to vote in Ireland’s complex system of Proportional Representation Single Transferable Vote.
“It’s something new, there’s a buzz,” said Leah Ann.
What was noticeable was more than 40 of the 44 Travellers in attendance were female.
“I’m trying to get the Traveller men in, but we have to be realistic. Politics is not a typical conversation that we have in the community. We have to be realistic, down to earth and not sugar coat it. The real urgencies in the community are homelessness, getting a job, sustaining employment and mental health.
“Politics is not, unfortunately, something people are putting (emphasis) on. We have TDs and elected representatives who unfortunately are not of benefit to the community. They want your vote but they don’t want to work on supporting the positive aspects of the community. That’s what we’re saying to the community: Every vote is a voice and a Traveller vote is a Traveller voice. It’s time to use your voice and your vote,” said Lee Anna.
Sarah Keaveney, Head of Education and Public Engagement for the Electoral Commission, said information events like this were key to a healthy democracy.
“Understanding the value of democracy is really important and we need people to understand why their vote is important. We’re here to talk to the Traveller community about the importance of voting, democracy, of having their voice heard, or participating in society through expending their democratic right,” she said.
She said the Electoral Commission does not have definitive stats on Traveller voter participation or registration, but “we do know they are less likely to participate”.
“I think it’s really important that the Traveller community or under-represented groups, really grasp this opportunity to realise the power their voice and their votes have collectively as communities – it can really make a difference to who is elected and who represents them at local, national or European level,” said Sarah Keaveney.
Margaret Ó Riada, Joint Co-Ordinator of Galway Traveller Movement, said it was great to have the Electoral Commission in Galway to promote the importance of Travellers voting and registering to vote.
She said engagement by the Traveller community in Galway with the political system has grown in recent years but there was voter apathy too.
“I think women and men working for us for the last 30 years in Galway Traveller Movement have been really strong advocates for change and the need for change and the need for the end to discrimination against the Traveller community. I suppose we’re very political in that stance . . . some people are apathetic around ‘What’s the point?’; ‘Nothing will change’, ‘Why vote?’, ‘Why give my time to something if I’m not seeing it in my day-to-day life?’.
“I just think what happens is people are apathetic and they don’t come out to vote but in every Local and General Election over the last many years we have tried to really motivate people to say ‘look, one small voice, one vote can make a difference’,” said Margaret Ó Riada.