Editing County Donegal (section)

===Referendums===
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin:1em; font-size:95%;"
|+ Donegal vote|Outlier Votes in Referendums
|- style="background:lightgrey;"
! Proposal
! Donegal Result
! National Result
|-
| |[[Third Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1958|3 (1958)]]
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|61.2% ''Yes''
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|'''51.8%''' ''No''
|-
| |[[Third Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1968|3 (1968)]]
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|51.4% ''Yes''
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|'''60.8%''' ''No''
|-
| |[[Fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 1968|4 (1968)]]
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|51.2% ''Yes''
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|'''60.8%''' ''No''
|-
| |[[Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|13 (1992)]]
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|60.1% ''No''
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|'''62.4%''' ''Yes''
|-
| |[[Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|14 (1992)]]
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|58.4% ''No''
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|'''59.9%''' ''Yes''
|-
| |[[Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|15 (1995)]]
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|59.3% ''No''
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|'''50.3%''' ''Yes''
|-
| |[[Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2001|25 (2002)]]
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|68.8% ''Yes''
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|'''50.4%''' ''No''
|-
| |[[Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|28 (2009)]]
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|50.8% ''No''
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|'''67.1%''' ''Yes''
|-
| |[[Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|30 (2012)]]
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|55.3% ''No''
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|'''60.4%''' ''Yes''
|-
| |[[Thirty-first Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|31 (2012)]]
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|58.0% ''No''
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|'''58.0%''' ''Yes''
|- 
| |[[Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|36 (2018)]]
| style="background-color:#FFE8E8;"|51.9% ''No''
| style="background-color:#DDFFDD;"|'''66.4%''' ''Yes''
|}
Donegal voters have a reputation nationally for being "conservative and contrarian", and have often voted against amendments to the [[Irish constitution]] which received broad support in the rest of Ireland.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/donegal-says-yes-2101162-May2015/ |title=Even Donegal voted YES in the marriage referendum |work=[[TheJournal.ie]] |date=23 May 2015 |access-date=31 May 2021 |archive-date=2 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602213343/https://www.thejournal.ie/donegal-says-yes-2101162-May2015/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Conversely, voters in the county have also supported several referendums which were not enacted. The trend first emerged in 1958, when voters in Donegal overwhelmingly voted to alter the [[electoral system]] from [[proportional representation]] to [[First-past-the-post voting|first-past-the-post]] in a referendum which was defeated nationally.

In 1968, voters in the county backed two separate bills which were also widely rejected nationwide. The first vote was to allow rural constituencies to elect a disproportionate number of [[Teachta Dála|TDs]]. Thirty-four constituencies voted against the amendment and four voted in favour, two of which were [[Donegal North-East (Dáil constituency)|Donegal North-East]] and [[Donegal South-West (Dáil constituency)|Donegal South-West]]. In the second vote, both Donegal constituencies again voted for the introduction of a [[First-past-the-post voting|first-past-the-post]] system, which was rejected.
[[File:Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland Bill, 2009 map (results by constituency).png|150px|left|thumbnail|Second referendum on the [[Treaty of Lisbon]]]]
The [[Twenty-third Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|23rd Amendment]] permitting the State to join the [[International Criminal Court]] in 2001 received the lowest support in Donegal, with just 55.8% of voters backing the proposal, compared with 64.2% nationally. Donegal is the only county to have voted against the [[Treaty of Lisbon]] twice, in 2008 and 2009.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/donegal-got-no-lisbon-opt-out-1216918 |title=Donegal got no Lisbon opt-out |date=26 July 2016 |access-date=31 May 2021 |archive-date=2 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602215321/https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/donegal-got-no-lisbon-opt-out-1216918 |url-status=live}}</ref> Voters in the county also rejected both the Fiscal Treaty and the referendum on [[Thirty-first Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|children's rights and state care]] in 2012.

On the issue of [[abortion]] and [[right to life]] vs [[Abortion-rights movements|pro-choice]], Donegal has consistently been the most conservative county in Ireland. In 1992, two referendums on the issue were held. The first was an amendment which specified that the State could not limit the freedom of travel of women seeking abortions abroad. The second specified that the distribution of information about abortion services available in other countries was not unlawful. In contrast to the rest of Ireland, Donegal voted decisively against these amendments.

The [[Twenty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2001|twenty-fifth]] amendment in 2002 to tighten the ban on abortion in Ireland received the most support in Donegal. Nationally, 50.42% of voters voted against the amendment, whereas 68.8% of voters in Donegal voted in favour of it. In May 2018, Donegal was the [[Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|only county]] in Ireland to vote against the repeal of the [[Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|Eighth Amendment of the Constitution]] which had acknowledged the right to life of the unborn.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/27/life-is-precious-donegal-quietly-defiant-after-voting-no-in-referendum |title='Life is precious': Donegal quietly defiant after voting no in referendum |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=27 May 2018 |access-date=31 May 2021 |archive-date=2 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602213502/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/27/life-is-precious-donegal-quietly-defiant-after-voting-no-in-referendum |url-status=live}}</ref> In October 2018, 48.5% of voters in Donegal voted against [[Thirty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland|repealing the offence]] of publishing or uttering [[blasphemous]] matter, the highest of any county and significantly above the national total of 35.15%.

In the [[2024 Irish constitutional referendums|2024 constitutional referendums]], Donegal had the highest votes for "no" in the country where 80% voted "no" to family and 84% voted "no" to care.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-09 |title=Irish referendums: Voters reject changes to family and care definition |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68484651.amp |access-date=2025-03-29 |website=BBC News |language=en-gb}}</ref>