Will Ireland be the first country to adopt gay marriage through a popular vote?

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• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  In Ireland, voters went to the polls today to decide whether to legalize gay marriage. If the referendum passes, the predominately Catholic country would become the first nation ever to accept same-sex marriage by a popular vote.

  Irish news sites are reporting higher-than-average turnout both in cities and rural areas.

• MAN:

  For the first time, if this passes, it will mean an Ireland where people who have felt discriminated in the past will feel included and equal in our society, so it will be a big thing.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  The vote may mark a sea change in attitudes on the island. Homosexuality was only decriminalized in the early 1990s, and many in Ireland oppose legalizing same-sex marriage.

  PADDY MANNING, "Mothers and Fathers Matter" Campaign Group: It means that forever, a man and a man are exactly the same in law as a woman and a man for family purposes. So it creates a fiction. It creates this fiction that men have children together. That's nonsensical.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  Hari Sreenivasan has more on this historic referendum.

• HARI SREENIVASAN:

  Joining me now to talk about who voted and why is Padraic Halpin, chief Ireland correspondent for the Reuters news service.

  So, the first question I think on a lot of Americans' mind is that the Catholic Church plays a powerful role in Irish society and Irish politics. How did this even get to a referendum in Ireland?

• PADRAIC HALPIN, Reuters:

  Well, Hari, the Catholic Church doesn't play as powerful role as it used to.

  I think the Catholic Church's influenced has diminished quite a bit over the last two decades, I think similar to a lot of countries, but in Ireland particular. There were a lot of clerical abuse scandals which played a big role in the church's position in society changing. And even in the referendum campaign itself, whereas maybe 20, 30 years ago on issues like divorce or contraception, the church would have been speaking out quite publicly against it, and they have actually been playing quite a low-key role.

  They're against the referendum, but they have been notable by how quiet they have been.

• HARI SREENIVASAN:

  And how do the demographics shape up for this vote? Is it rural vs. urban, young vs. old? What kind of demographic breakdown is there on who has been supporting the referendum vs. opposing it?

• PADRAIC HALPIN:

  So, supporting the referendum, all political parties are behind the referendum, which I think is maybe quite unique among other countries.

  In terms of a divide of urban-rural, in previous referendums, on social issues, we have certainly seen that. There was a referendum on divorce, to make divorce legal in Ireland, 20 years ago. And we saw outside of Dublin only five of 30 constituencies in Ireland supported the referendum. So we have certainly seen that in the past. And there will be some of that again when we see results tomorrow.

  How big a divide will be an interesting note. And one big thing is a divide between young and old, but certainly how energized young people have been in getting out to vote.

• HARI SREENIVASAN:

  There was also a campaign to try to get Irish expats from around the world to vote. Explain that a little bit.

• PADRAIC HALPIN:

  Yes, sure.

  So, in Ireland, there's no postal or embassy vote, unlike a lot of other countries, where emigrants can vote if they obviously don't live in the country itself. Ireland obviously has a big expat community, bigger still in the last few years with the economic crisis here. A lot of young people have had to emigrate to Australia, to America, to Canada to get jobs.

  So, this campaign, it's quite different to any other referendum, where a lot of young people, in order to cast a vote, they have to come back to their local constituency. So, we have had people fly in from — obviously from Britain, from Europe, from America, people from New York, from Canada. I spoke to someone this week who bought a return ticket from Australia. He spent $1,400 just to get home to vote.

  And certainly it's something social media has picked up on today. And it's been certainly one of the things that have been of most note in the campaign in recent days.

• HARI SREENIVASAN:

  Have you seen any other referendum or social issue galvanize people like this in Ireland?

• PADRAIC HALPIN:

  I don't think we have seen it for quite some time.

  I think, as it stands, where polls are going to close shortly, and the indications are that turnout could be around 60 percent or above. The last time we saw that was 20 years ago in the divorce referendum. Any referendum since, there hasn't been as active a turnout.

  So, that is obviously one indication. I think also we have had — it's dominated media, the media for weeks. The debate has been quite fierce. And it has been quite vocal. And I think it's — on the streets of Dublin, certainly, it's all people are talking about.

  There is an air of anticipation, I think it's fair to say. And I think tomorrow will be a big day, whichever way it goes.

• HARI SREENIVASAN:

  All right, Padraic Halpin, chief Ireland correspondent for the Reuters news service, thanks so much for joining us.

• PADRAIC HALPIN:

  Thank you.