This question is posted by ACE on behalf of Ian Smith.

As part of my city's accessibility policy and legislative requirements, our municipal electoral management body is committed to finding ways of increasing accessibility for voters with disabilities. 

One approach being considered is offering a free taxi service for voters with disabilities to polling locations that are specially equipped with fully accessible Voter Assist Terminals. 

• Does anyone know of any other large municipalities which have provided such a service? 
• Any lessons learned or recommendations? 

Thanks.

Summary of Responses

Practitioners’ Network members shared examples of how local electoral authorities around the world have worked to better include voters with disabilities. However, members did not share any instances of local administrators providing free taxi services for voters with disabilities to polling stations with Voter Assist Terminals.

Two members offered examples where polling officials make house visits for persons with disabilities and the elderly.  A member from Ecuador shared the “house vote,” a tool to address the needs of voters who are unable to go to polling stations. According to the member, the system registers these voters to vote in advance of Election Day, and polling officials visit their homes carrying kits with all necessary voting equipment. Another member shared a similar example in the context of South Africa’s “special vote.”  

A member from Sierra Leone shared that during the 2012 general elections the election commission arranged for voters to be transported to polling stations in district and municipal capitals. However, this service was not exclusively for persons with disabilities, and a general measure to encourage the participation of voters residing far from their polling place. The member also suggested that taxi services for voters with disabilities may indirectly improve their participation in pre-Election Day electoral exercises like voter registration.

Another member from Nigeria added that he had recently come on board the election commission’s new unit addressing the needs of voters with disabilities. The member agreed with the need for a taxi service for persons with disabilities, while noting the challenge of doing this when all votes are cast on the same day.

In general, a few members suggested broader measures (not transport-related) various EMBs have undertaken to better enable persons with disabilities to vote. For example, a member from Cameroon mentioned that the EMB prints messages in bold letters for persons with low vision, prints documents in braille, employs American and French sign language for the deaf and hearing impaired, and makes special preparations in polling stations for people with motor disabilities. The member from Sierra Leone suggested the use of Tactile Ballots (TBs) for visually impaired voters at polling stations. Another member offered the example of Iraq’s accession to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in January 2012.  The same member shared that she had worked with Iraq’s electoral commission to educate its staff and Iraqi disability organizations on CRPD rights.

Finally, two members emphasized the need to include these mechanisms in countries’ legal frameworks, so that they are more likely to be enforced.

Contributing Members

• Christine Ndayishimiye
• Abdul Aziz Mbond
• Elizabeth Cabrera
• Jacky Sutton
• Benny Goodnews Oguejiofor
• Víctor Hugo Ajila
• Aiah Stephen Mattia
• Michel Sabubwa

Christine Ndayishimiye du Burundi

Il existe plusieurs possibilités de permettre aux personnes vivant avec un handicap de participer pleinement au vote, seulement il faut qu'elles soient prévues par la loi électorale. L'expérience à laquelle j'ai déjà assisté est celle de L'Afrique du Sud qui prévoit ce qui est communément appelé " vote spécial". C'est un vote réservé  exclusivement aux personnes âgées et aux personnes vivant avec un handicap. Il est organisé quelques jours avant le jour du vote pour les autres citoyens et il est stipulé que pour ce vote spécial ce sont les membres des  bureaux qui se déplacent vers les quartiers à la rencontre des citoyens devant bénéficier de ce  vote spécial. Ainsi les personnes vivant avec un  handicap et les personnes âgées ne sont même pas obligées de se déplacer. C'est une procédure qui demande beacoup de moyens mais qui garantit l'inclusivité.

Hello,

It's a good measure that has been taken by the South African Government to provide for special arragement for people with disabilities within a legal framework but as she said, it's costly.

In Cameroon, the EMB conceived and broadcast spots designed for people with disabilities, they printed messages in bold characters for people suffering from low vision, printed documents in braille, made use of American and French sign languages for the deaf and the hearing-impaired and made special preparation in the registration centres and polling station for people with motor disabilities.

The registration software also could process people with disabilities and compute their statistics.

La herramienta del voto domiciliario, que ha utilizado el Consejo Nacional Electoral del Ecuador, es una alternativa para facilitar el voto de las personas con discapacidad relativa a movilidad. El sistema consiste en que las personas afectadas por esta situación se inscriben con antelación para que el día de la elección, miembros de la mesa receptora de sufragios se trasladen en vehículo hasta sus domicilios y las personas puedan votar ahí, sin necesidad de salir de su hogar. Ellos llevan un kit con todo el material necesario, votos, cámara secreta etc. Mientras en el local de votación el proceso de votación continúa con el resto de los integrantes.

Iraq acceded to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CPRD) in January 2012. The national EMB therefore had an obligation to review its procedures and regulations to ensure compliance with the treaty. The UN electoral assistance team therefore worked with the EMB to ensure that it was able to provide non-discriminatory access to electoral processes and information; initially there was resistance on the grounds that people with physical impairments did receive "assistance" and therefore nothing further needed to be done. I worked with national disability organisations to help them prepare a rights-based proposal to the EMB which included the institutionalisation of a consultative process and inclusion of persons with mental illness and learning impairments. I also conducted training with the public outreach department on the history of CPRD and disability rights across the world and different ways to ensure that people with disabilities had non-discriminatory access to electoral information. It was a slow process and by the time the elections took place in April 2014 the full proposal had not been implemented but EMB staff and management were educated in CPRD rights and, more importantly, disability NGOs in Iraq were aware of their rights to fully participate in electoral processes, and not just to receive "assistance".

Offering free taxi services is something i think is very important. In my Commission we do not have have offer that at all, but coming on board this new Unit (persons with debilities) early this year, i was thinking on how to enhance the participation of persons with disabilities in the electoral process, and the thought of offering special free taxi services came to my mind.  Considering the kind of voting we do in Nigeria which is voting on the same day for particular election, it became very challenging on how to work this out to accommodate this people.  We are still on it but i think is a good thing that should be done in other to achieve inclusiveness.

En Ecuador la experiencia está organizada y dirigida por el Consejo Nacional Electoral; a este organismo le corresponde garantizar la participación de los votantes. Por tanto el proyecto contempla acuerdos de cooperación con otras instituciones públicas como el Ministerio de Transporte, municipios de las principales ciudades, la Cruz Roja, CONADIS, Secretaría de Discapacidades, etc.; y también acuerdos con entidades privadas como las cooperativas de taxis, estudiantes de colegios, voluntarios, etc.

En resumen, algunas buenas prácticas son:

1. Generar acuerdos con actores estratégicos que aportan también sus fortalezas y capacidades al proyecto.

2. Campaña de información y difusión.

3. Voto domiciliario, es decir, llevar el material de votación al hogar de la persona cuando ésta no puede trasladarse.

4. Ubicar los centros de votación en sitios accesibles y fáciles de ubicar para votantes con discapacidad.

5. Permitir el voto con asistencia de una persona de confianza de elector con discapacidad.

6. Recoger y procesar información sobre las personas con discapacidad: dónde viven, tipo de discapacidad, habilidad legal para votal, etc. Para esto se puede manejar acuerdo con los organismos que llevan este tipo de información.

Saludos cordiales

Víctor Hugo Ajila

Ecuador

In the last (2012) presidential, parliamentary and local government elections in Sierra Leone, arrangements were made for voters to be transported to polling stations in district and municipal capitals, but this arrangement did not specifically target voters with disabilities, and they were quite successful.

In my view, providing taxi service for voters with disabilities is a welcome innovation, especially if the many distinctions of disabilities were to be considered (the visually impaired, voters on wheel-chairs, the deaf, the dumb, etc).

The advantages will include their easy access and therefore unimpeded casting of votes and early return to their daily normal lives. Incrementally, the motivation to participate in pre-polling electoral exercises like voter registration will increase.

However, this will be more beneficial if the secrecy of their votes is enhanced and promoted simultaneously by use of Tactile Ballots (TBs) for the visually impaired, after they get to the polling stations.

Qu'il y ait un traitement spécial pour personnes vivant avec handicap le moment d'enrôlement des citoyens ou de vote, cela est une bonne chose pour permettre l'inclusivité  des électeurs. Mais il faut toujours interroger le cadre légal des élections à ce propos. Sinon, que au moins à la queue vers le B.V , ces personnes soient accueillies prioritairement. Cela peut être facilité  par des séances de sensibilisation à l'endroit des électeurs potentiels (éducation civique).

Un déplacement ponctuel le jour de vote est une bonne pratique mais un regard sur le coût que ça engendre ferait l'objet d' observation (étude de faisabilité compte ténu aussi de la configuration géographique des lieux où habite ce groupe cible).