UPDATE: 1:39pm – Mike Cubbard’s vote could be vital with Noel Thomas stretching his lead on strength of almost 1,000 transfers from Cubbard to Thomas. Kyne only gained 674 while Helen Ogbu got the expected boost – the largest of Cubbard’s transfers – of over 1,000 as she closed in on Kyne. Seán Kyne is now on 11,788, while Ogbu is 8,500.

Galway city Mayor Mike Cubbard’s votes were distributed. Cillian Keane has now been eliminated and his votes will be distributed for ninth count.

Noel Thomas – 12,947 + 950 – 13,897

Seán Kyne – 11,114 + 674 – 11,788

Helen Ogbu 7,457 + 1,043 – 8,500

Míde Nic Fhionnlaoich – 5,409 +529 – 5,938

Cillian Keane – 4,749 + 405 – 5,154

UPDATE: – 12:08 – Mike Cubbard eliminated as Noel Thomas surges to 12,947 with 701 transfers from Mark Lohan. Seán Kyne got just 148 transfers to bring him to 11,114. Helen Ogbu and Míde Nic Fhionnlaoich got a huge 694 and 822 from the transfer respectively. Helen Ogbu is catching Kyne, now on 7,457.

UPDATE: 11:08 – Count Six saw a surprise as Noel Thomas gained over 1,000 from the Thomas Welby transfers. Noel Thomas is now on 12,246, opening the gap again to Seán Kyne on 10,969.

UPDATE: 10:53am – Count Five saw 3,093 votes back in the hat with Noel Thomas gaining 578 to reach 11,075, Sean Kyne didn’t gain nearly as much from transfers from Orla Nugent and Sheila Garitty – he got just 219 to reach 10,126. Helen Ogbu gained 575 to hit 6,545.

A huge gap opened as AJ Cahill’s transfer give Noel Thomas 439 votes to Seán Kyne’s 20. This put Noel Thomas on 10,477 while Kyne hit on 9,693.

However, the last count of the day, the fourth count gave leading candidate Noel Thomas just 20 votes, leaving him on 10,497. Sean Kyne closed the gap, now on 9,907. Helen Ogbu transfered well, now on 5,970. The count suspended for the night.

Noel Thomas -12,246 + 701 – 12,947

Seán Kyne – 10,966 + 148 – 11,114

Helen Ogbu 6763 + 694 – 7,457

Míde Nic Fhionnlaoich – 4,587 + 822 – 5,409

Cillian Keane – 4,688 + 81 – 4,749

Mike Cubbard -4,140 + 597 – 4,737

The voting process uses a multiple preferences system.

This means that voters list the candidates in order of preference.

When voting you write a “1” beside the candidate that you want most. You then write a “2” beside the candidate that you would like to see elected if your number one choice was not an option and so on.

Votes are then sorted into piles based on first preferences. This is when spoiled votes are counted.

There are four ways to spoil a vote:

If it hasn’t been stamped at the polling centreIf there is no first preference.If there are multiple first preferencesIf something has been written on the ballot that could be used to identify the voter.

Once the spoiled votes are removed, the remaining votes are used to find the quota which is the number of votes a candidate must receive to be elected.

If a candidate has more than the quota after a round of counting, then they are declared elected.

If after a round of counting no winner has been declared then the count continues and the candidate with the lowest amount of votes is “eliminated”.

When this happens then that candidate’s votes are sorted according to the next available preference and moved to the corresponding candidate’s pile of votes.

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