Ballot boxes open at Thurles count centre

The sorting and counting of votes is getting underway at the Tipperary Count Centre this morning.

Locals had their say on the ‘Family’ and ‘Care’ referendums at polling stations across the county yesterday.

All the votes cast in the two constitutional referendums in Tipperary will be tallied in at the Tipperary Count Centre in Thurles today under the watchful eye of the County Registrar & Sheriff for Tipperary James Seymour.

The first job will be to separate the ballot papers.

Votes on the 39th amendment better known as the ‘Family’ referendum were on a white ballot paper and the 40th amendment or the ‘Care’ referendum were on the green paper yesterday.

Once they are separated it’s the white papers that will be counted first

When that count is completed, the Tipperary verdict on the family referendum will be sent to the main Count Centre at Dublin Castle where it will be verified before it can be announced locally.

Once the first count is finished the staff in Thurles will move on to counting the votes in the care referendum on the green ballots and the procedure is repeated with the result being communicated to Dublin Castle and then announced locally.

The final announcement of whether the referendums have passed will be made in Dublin once all the county results are in.