A handy guide before you visit your polling station.
How do I vote?
First off, that's not a silly question.
Voting in a general election is slightly different to voting in a referendum. If you've recently voted for recent referendums on marriage equality and the 8th amendment but haven't voted in a general election, you need to know the differences.
Your polling card
About a week before the election you should receive a polling card by post. That'll have all the details on where and when you need to go to cast your vote. Didn't receive a polling card? Don't sweat it. You don't actually need a card to go to the polling center, you just need to bring your ID. It's a good idea to bring some ID with you regardless as they may ask for it at the polling station.
The polling station
When you arrive at the polling station bring the polling card and/or form of ID and go to the person at the desk to be identified and marked off the register. You may be asked for some identification, so have it to hand.
You'll be handed a ballot paper. On it will be the names of the candidates looking for your vote in your constituency. They'll be in alphabetical order and their photos and the political party (if any) they belong to will be beside it. You'll then go to one of the booths and fill it in.
This is where it differs slightly from referendums. Instead of marking your choice with an 'X', you write the 1 beside the name of your first choice, 2 beside the name of your second choice, 3 beside your third choice and so on as far as you wish to go.
Political correspondent with Communicorp Seán Defoe explains:
"Now there's a couple of quirks in it, basically how it works is that your vote will transfer if the first person has been elected.
"So let's say you vote for me, number one, I'm elected on the first count and there's a surplus, then those votes are distributed further down the line.
"The more important thing to know... is if there is someone you don't want elected, put nothing next to their box. Because there is a chance, however you vote, even if you put them as number 14 or 15 right down the ballot, at some point that could matter and could count for a vote to them.
"Put your favorite number one, your second favorite number two. And usually people will kind of mark four, five, six, however many you like for the candidates you like. But if there's ones that you don't, don't give them a vote."
