Moves to Encourage Voters TDs, last week, agreed new measures to encourage a higher turnout at the polls for the forthcoming European elections and referendum. The move comes as Electronic voting has been hammered with criticism that old people, who are typically the only people who ever bother to vote, won't be able to use it (presumably because they'll be concentrating on searching for a pub where they can have a smoke with their daily scatter of pints, as they've done for years and years and there's no way that they'll be able to lead a happy life, etc...) One move to encourage younger voters to show up allows for them to check their yahoo emails at the booth, watch a selection of funny clips, such as Michael Noonan getting a custard pie in his face and Fianna Fail senator Terry Leyden getting paint thrown over him by smelly hippies and the option to "phone a friend", to see where the popular vote is going this season. The most radical changes are centred around the format that voting will now take. Instead of the traditional method of selecting a candidate in order of preference, the voter will be prompted to vote in a number of, yet to be finalised, categories. The categories are likely to include: Least likely to take a bribe, Most Likely to become Taoiseach and least likely to be the sole subject of a "Prime Time" special. The scores will then be totted up, and the candidate with the most "Morality Points" will be deemed elected to the Dail.

A typical Irish Electronic Voting Machine Rumours of a Quick-Pick option for the referendum have, so far, proved groundless.