Another candidate running in the Midlands Northwest?
A mouse is among the alleged surprises found in ballot boxes as counting for local elections gets underway.
Counting began at 9am this morning, with early tallies for both local and European races taken first.
Ballot papers are not the only things staff find during the count, however, amid reports of lost objects and furry surprises.
Newstalk Political Correspondent Seán Defoe said by his count so far, three rings have been lost so far, with two recovered in Wicklow and Wexford, and one still missing in Galway.
“We’ve had no bats in the count centres,” he told The Anton Savage Show.
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“But there was an alleged mouse in Mayo they had to be warned of maybe in one of the ballot boxes to not let it take their finger off.
“Counters were warned that a mouse had gotten into a particular box and to tip it out very carefully.
“That would be a hell of a valid vote excuse - ‘Oh sorry the mouse ate my homework’.”
According to Midwest Radio, the County Registrar advised the 270 counters to be aware of a numbered box of votes where it is feared a mouse entered the polling booth.
With a 28-inch ballot paper being tallied for European elections, any mouse found in Castlebar would have a lot of material to chew on.
The mouse has not yet been found and it is unknown whether it had a preference for any particular ballot papers.
Mouse in the count house
Concrete tally counts are yet to emerge for the 27 candidates running.
Local tallies so far suggest a drop in support for Sinn Féin, but it remains important to note tallies don’t always reflect final results.
When tallies conclude, quotas will be calculated to determine winners, losers and many, many transfers as the election count begins in earnest.
A bat was previously found at a counting centre at Limerick Racecourse during the March referendums.
‘Count Ref-ula' was put inside two cups held together and brought outside.
