– PWDs present recommendations to GECOM for 2020 elections

By Lisa Hamilton

TO make the March 2020 Elections more accessible to persons with disabilities (PWDs), the Guyana Council of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities (GCOPWDs) has recommended that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) utilise tactile templates.
Tactile templates are used in many countries in the world to allow blind or visually impaired persons to vote independently. They can be placed over the ballot paper and are made with round cut-out holes and lines which indicate the sequence of candidates.

On Thursday, GCOPWDs Programme Coordinator, Ganesh Singh, said that there must be an end to the possible strategy whereby political parties volunteer to transport PWDs to polling booths on elections day for a favorable vote in return. “As it is right now, blind persons are able to vote either of two ways: proxy or accompanied. Neither method allows for independent voting. With this method, a blind person who chooses to would be able to vote independently,” Singh said.

He stated that in 2015, tactile templates were printed and placed at polling stations but they were not used as they were produced very late and polling agents were not trained to utilize or assist with the process. Singh is positive that the Commission, which has thus far been receptive, can implement the same for 2020.

The means of voting was among a list of several other recommendations put forward to the Commission by the Council in December 2019. The recommendations also advocated for video instructions on the voting process to be made available at all polling stations to cater for those deaf or hearing impaired. This, the Council noted, should be complemented with a sign language interpreter or someone equipped to communicate using basic sign language to assist if further challenges arise.

“The Guyana Elections Commission should provide adequate training to all polling day staff and other GECOM officials to effectively interact and communicate with voters with disabilities. Persons with disabilities should be integrally involved in this training process. GECOM should ensure that all public sensitization materials and productions are accessible to PWDs,” the document insisted.

It also emphasized that GECOM’s personnel should conduct sensitization sessions with the members of the various PWD organisations to educate them on the voting process. When it comes to physical accessibility, the Council has recommended that polling stations be at ground level and the building be equipped with either permanent or portable ramps. This is to ensure barrier-free access to persons using wheelchairs, persons with other forms of physical disabilities and the elderly.

Singh understands that it would be financially taxing on GECOM at this time to install thousands of ramps at all polling stations so he has instead proposed, for the short term ,“curbside voting”.

The Council also suggested “curbside voting” could be facilitated in instances where the polling station is unavoidably inaccessible to someone with a physical disability. “This is where the scrutineers, the presiding officers and a few other persons – whoever is needed — can bring the ballot box in a portable cubicle downstairs to the ground floor where a wheelchair user might be and they can vote there,” he said. In the future, the GCOPWDs wants to see these recommendations be placed in stone through the amendment of existing legislation or new legislations which guarantees an electoral process that is inclusive and accessible to all PWDs. Singh said that quite a number of PWDs exercise their right to vote and these measures would increase the ability of many more to do so.