HomeToVote

2015 referendum to legalize same-sex marriage On May 22, 2015, Irish citizens voted to approve the referendum to recognize marriage between any two partners. Under Irish law, there are few options for voting by mail. After the financial crisis in 2008, 250,000 Irish citizens emigrated for economic reasons, 70% of whom were in their 20s. In order to secure the right to same-sex marriage, citizens took to social media with the hashtag #HomeToVote to ask eligible voters to return home to Ireland to fight for same-sex marriage. In April 2018, ARC released a video encouraging the 40,000 Irish citizens abroad who are eligible to vote to return and vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment. The campaign was inspired by Ireland's vote three years prior to legalize same-sex marriage, which brought thousands of Irish citizens home. == Voting outcomes ==

Same-sex marriage Ireland overwhelmingly voted to support the referendum, making them the world's first country to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote. 1,201,607 people, or 62% of the electorate, voted in favor of legalization. The referendum allowed Irish citizens the opportunity to reform their abortion laws for the first time in 35 years. The referendum passed with a landslide victory, repealing one of the world's most restrictive bans on abortion. == Reach and impact ==

The hashtag #HomeToVote was tweeted 72,000 times leading up to the referendum vote for same-sex marriage in 2015, ranking fifth in Twitter's news trends that year. Between May 23 and the afternoon of May 24, the hashtag was mentioned 43,096 times on social media in support of legalizing abortion services. == References ==