Basic Issues
Where voters with certain disabilities are allowed assistance in marking their ballots, voting station officials should do everything possible to assist such voters to participate in voting with the same high level of service provided to other voters. (For a general overview of assistance to such voters, see Language and Literacy Assistance and Physically Handicapped Voters.)
Categories of voters who would normally be eligible for assistance in marking the ballot would include:
- voters who have a temporary or permanent physical disability that prevents then from marking the ballot;
- voters who are blind or severely vision impaired;
- voters who are not sufficiently literate in the language used on the ballots for the election.
Time Allowed to Vote
Voting station officials should not assume that because a voter is taking a long time to complete marking the ballot they require assistance. However, officials issuing ballots and monitoring the voting compartments should be aware of voters obviously having difficulty in understanding the ballot and advise them of assistance that may be available. In all cases, both for voters requesting assistance and for those whom voting station officials believe may need assistance, it is appropriate that the voting station manager be the person legally delegated to make the decision as to whether the voter is eligible for an assisted vote.
Assisted Voting
Wherever possible, voters seeking or requiring assistance should be identified and directed to the voting station manager as soon as they enter the voting station. This may not always be possible, particularly with non-literate voters in more advanced societies where admission of non-literacy may be embarrassing. In some systems such voters must make special application to be allowed assistance, but this would seem generally excessive for maintenance of a reasonable standard of integrity.
Under equitable systems, a voter eligible for assistance would be able to designate a friend or other person to complete their ballot, or, if no such person is available, could be assisted by a voting station official. While this is generally a task specifically given to the voting station manager, it would be useful if the voting station manager possessed the power to delegate the actual assistance in marking the ballot for such voters to other senior voting station officials, to prevent delays during peak periods or in large voting stations.
Assisted by Friend
Steps in implementing assisted voting will vary according to who assists the voter. If the voter brings with them or nominates another person to complete the ballot for them, the voting station manager should ensure that:
- the person qualifies for an assisted vote under the rules for the election;
- the person chosen by the voter to mark the ballot is not excluded from providing assistance by the legislation or rules governing the election--qualifications defined in electoral legislation of minimum age, or being registered to vote at that voting station, or restricting persons to assist only one voter, can enhance the integrity of the process;
- the voter's eligibility is checked as for any voter, and if eligible for a ballot, is issued a ballot and goes with the person designated to complete the ballot in a vacant voting compartment to mark the ballot, and from there deposits the ballot in the ballot box in accordance with the normal proscribed procedures.
In such cases here should be no requirement, nor is there any real need, for anyone else to witness the marking of the ballot.
Assistance by Voting Station Official
Where the voter does not designate anyone to assist, assistance (where allowable under the legal framework) could be provided by a duly authorised voting station official. The method used is essentially the same, except that the integrity is better served if the legal framework requires that there is one or more witnesses. This would often be specified in the legal framework as either one (and preferably more) party or candidate representatives, or alternatively, another polling official or even a person chosen by the voter. The voter must be informed of and understand this condition, and reasonably then be again given the opportunity to designate a person of their choice to assist in their vote, rather than having their vote witnessed by party or candidate representatives.
The witness(es) must be able to hear any oral instructions or see any written instructions given by the assisted voter, and observe the ballot being completed by the official. Where an assisted voter provides written instructions for marking the ballot, the voting station official should check to be certain the voter understands and agrees with the content of these instructions. If voters are not literate in the language used on the ballot and in the voting station, but literate in some other community language, wherever possible the help of any official literate in the voter's language should be sought. In those jurisdictions where voting station officials are political appointments rather than independent, a balance of interests from amongst the officials should together assist the voter to vote, rather than a single official.
It is very important that assisted votes are still completed in a voting compartment and the ballot remains secret from any person not authorised to assist or observe the assisted vote. Those assisting the voter and any authorised witnesses must not disclose to any other person the instructions which the voter gave for marking the ballot. To ensure this, it can be useful to require that persons assisting voters complete a formal declaration binding them to keep the vote secret (where they have not already done so for the election).
Visually Impaired Voters
As an alternative to being assisted to vote, templates could be provided for blind or vision impaired voters that can allow them to complete their vote themselves. This will allow these voters the option of keeping their vote totally secret. Where paper ballots are used:
- the voter's eligibility is checked as for any voter;
- when issued a ballot, the voter is also issued a template that fits over the ballot, with holes cut out that line up with the parts of the ballot paper where the voter may mark a preference, and is instructed on its use--the template may also include braille script indicating the party or candidate relevant to each of the holes in the template;
- a voting station official accompanies the voter to the voting compartment but does not enter it, but would then read to the voter the party or candidate names in the order they appear on the ballot, to assist the voter in marking preferences correctly through the holes in the template;
- the voter removes the template from the ballot before leaving the voting compartment, folds the ballot, hands the template back to the voting station official, and from there deposits the ballot in the ballot box in accordance with the normal proscribed procedures.
Where computers are used for voting, such arrangements are more difficult; however, templates fitting over the keyboard (for keyed voting) or monitor (for touch screen voting) could be used.
Other Assistance to Voters
Other categories of voters that may often require assistance from voting station officials, but who may not need another person to complete their ballot for them, would include those who:
- have limited understanding of the language used on voting material and in the voting station;
- have physical disabilities or are elderly or frail sufficient to make entering the voting station difficult.
Voters with Language Difficulties
Where significant numbers of voters from minority language groups are expected to attend a voting station, all effort should be made to employ at least some staff fluent in these minority languages. In some cases, staff appointed specifically as interpreters may be justifiable; more cost-effectively, some officials engaged for tasks involving information provision, entry and queue control, eligibility checking, and ballot issuing would have skills in the relevant minority language(s).
If officials with these minority language skills are not available, every effort should be made to assist the voter in explaining required actions, through slow, clear speech, simplifying language, and using diagrams, illustrations, or gestures to demonstrate what is required. This would apply equally to all voters with literacy difficulties.
Elderly and Frail Voters
Voting station staff should in general be aware of the needs of elderly, frail, and disabled voters, as well as other classes of voters such as pregnant women and nursing mothers, to ensure that they do not have to endure long waits in queues to vote. Bringing such voters to the head of queues to vote and providing them with a high level of information and/or physical assistance to ensure that they are not disadvantaged in voting is an integral part of voting station service.
For the elderly, frail, and physically disabled, election rules may allow the voter to vote outside the voting station, from the area outside the voting station or from a vehicle parked outside (so-called 'kerbside voting'). Systems for allowing such votes would normally provide for:
- a maximum distance from the voting station entrance within which such voting is allowed;
- voting station officials, on application by the voter, to check the voters eligibility and mark the voters list inside the voting station and then bring to the voter the ballot(s), ballot envelope (if required), and a portable voting compartment or screen within which the voter can mark the ballot in secrecy;
- the folded (or enveloped), completed ballot, and voting equipment, to be brought back into the voting station by the voting station official who, without attempting to look at the manner in which the voter has marked the ballot, deposits the ballot in the ballot box.
It would be highly preferable that this process only be undertaken in the presence of party or candidate representatives, but other voters should not be allowed to observe the marking of the ballot. Whether voters need to make prior application for this assistance is more a matter of practicality than integrity. Large numbers of such voters needing such assistance may require additional staffing in the voting station or advice to political participants of additional monitoring requirements.
The utility of adding this service to the range of voting station services will depend on factors such as:
- the potential disruptions of service to other voters;
- the ability to provide transparency;
- the availability of other methods of voting of equal integrity for disabled and frail voters.
Special Provisions with Regard to Voting Locations
As an alternative to or extension of the 'kerbside voting', legislative provision may be made for disabled or frail voters to vote on voting day at a voting station other than that to which they have been assigned to attend to vote. In systems where a general system of in-person absentee voting is in operation on voting day, these voters would be serviced according to procedures for absentee voting.
In systems more restricted as to voting methods and locations, special provisions for disabled or frail voters to vote at a voting station other than the one(s) to which they have been assigned, if this (or these) do not offer easy access to the disabled and frail, could be provided. These would normally entail:
- an application prior to voting day by the voter, or someone authorised by the voter, for the voter to vote at a specified voting station other than the one(s) to which the voter has been assigned;
- examination of the request by the electoral management body and, on approval, issue of a certificate to the voter enabling the voter to vote at the voting station requested;
- the voter producing this certificate when attending to vote during eligibility checking, and the voter's attendance being specifically noted in voting station records.
Depending on the sophistication and complexity of any general systems for absentee voting, this facility may have to be limited to allow the voter to choose an appropriately accessible voting station within the voter's electoral district of registration.
Consideration could also be given to providing special voting facilities for disabled, infirm, and frail voters, rather than insisting they attend a normal voting station. These could take the form of:
- locating voting stations in care institutions that are restricted to residents or patients (and possibly staff) at the institution and/or the elderly and infirm within a specified geographic area;
- where the legal framework allows, providing mobile voting stations within care institutions or for home visits to elderly and infirm voters.
These facilities could be provided in advance of voting day (where allowed by legislation) or on voting day itself. Where these facilities are provided in advance of voting day, these voters should also be allowed the opportunity to vote at their normal assigned voting station on voting day, if they did not participate in the early voting. Reliable mechanisms to prevent multiple voting would be required.
For an overview of methods for providing assistance to the physically and visually impaired, see Physically Handicapped Voters, and for the elderly and infirm, see Homebound, Infirm and Aged and Hospitals and Other Care Institutions.
