Inaccessible democracy? An unfit system for blind voters

Today I went to vote in the UK General Election. Some friends kindly gave me a lift to my polling station, and when I went inside I was greeted by one of the staff working there, who helped me find the right area of the station as there were several desks.

My name and ID were checked and I was then provided with a ballot paper. The staff member who was now assisting me asked what help I needed, and I said I’d like to use the tactile voting device. She said that all the time she’d been working at the polling station she’d never had to open up the packet for one of these so she was really happy to do it.

From there, my experience was a little complicated. On the one hand everyone was so kind and helpful. On the other, it was clear that staff hadn’t really been shown how to use the device. I somewhat had to talk them through it, including that they’d need to read me the list of candidates in the order they appear on the ballot. Once I’d heard the list, I then investigated my ballot paper.

Essentially the tactile voting device is a plastic overlay which gets stuck onto the ballot paper. There is a column of braille numbers running from top to bottom, and next to each number there’s a small plastic flap. Blind voters must remember the number of the candidate they want to vote for, open the flap, and put their cross in the box it reveals.

Once I had done this, the staff member mentioned that she’d stuck the overlay on so that I didn’t have to peel back the flap, as it was pointing to the box rather than covering it. This presented me with a problem. Was my cross in the box? I can’t see, so I’m unable to check. But if I ask someone to look, I lose my right to a secret vote. I feel bad because I definitely reacted by pulling a bit of an annoyed face. I didn’t mean to, it was one of those moments where you’re caught off guard, you don’t know what to do, and you react. I ended up saying it was fine and I’d just have to hope that my vote would be counted.

This is the problem. Current provision isn’t suitable. There’s no way around it. For what it’s worth, the High Court agrees that current provision for blind voters is unsuitable and makes a mockery of the electoral process. That ruling was issued in 2019, and yet in 2024 I am dealing with exactly the same system that was present then. There are other options for blind voters. There are devices which are a combination tactile overlay and audio player. You slot the ballot paper in, and you can listen to the candidate list. I still have reservations as to whether you can guarantee this device will be used correctly by staff on the day, but it’s so much better than the overlay and I’ve heard only good things from blind people that have used it.

My experience was so frustrating. I don’t blame the person assisting me, even though I know I appeared visibly upset at the time. It’s not the fault of staff that they haven’t been trained to use these overlays correctly. They are trying to do some good within a system that is utterly unfit for purpose. We cannot and should not blame them for that. Unless you’ve had to use one of these overlays it’s hard to describe how dreadful they are. They aren’t made to fit the paper, so staff have to try and line them up to stick them on correctly. Half of the ballot paper hangs out, and then you’ve got to remember a huge list of candidates that’s being read to you. There were 11 where I was voting, so I had to listen to them all and hope I correctly remembered the number of the one I wanted.

I have no idea if my vote will be counted. I believe in the democratic process and I encourage everyone to vote if they can. Yet every time I have voted I have left the polling station feeling frustrated and completely powerless. Everything about the current system says loud and clear that it was not designed for people like me. We are not truly welcome. If we were, there would have been action after the 2019 ruling and we wouldn’t have to beg for a better system to be put in place.

I call on the next government to take this issue seriously. Please recognise that thousands of blind people are denied the chance to vote at all, or when we do, we often have to give up our right to vote in secret so that we can be sure our ballot paper is marked correctly. The RNIB is doing some work on this, including an open letter to the future Prime Minister asking them to ensure that blind people will be able to vote in secret. I have signed this letter and I am asking that others also do so. Something has to change. It must if we as blind people are to be afforded any dignity while we exercise our right to vote.