Access For Sight Impaired ConsumersAccess For Sight Impaired ConsumersSandwiched between the federal election of October 14 and municipal elections throughout BC on November 15, The BC Government has called two provincial by-elections in Vancouver. On October 29, voters in the ridings of Vancouver - Burrard and Vancouver - Fairview will be visiting the polls to elect MLA's to replace the two legislative members who recently resigned to pursue other political careers.
Over the past year, Access for Sight-Impaired Consumers has been working very closely with Elections BC to ensure the up-coming provincial general election, scheduled for May 2009, is completely accessible. To test the efficacy of our collaberative efforts, the by-elections of October 29 will include a variety of tools that will enable voters who are blind, sight-impaired or deafblind to mark and cast their ballot in private and with complete independence.
To begin with, the on-line Voter Registration has been upgraded to ensure accessibility for those who use screen-reader or screen-magnification applications. Alternatively, you may call Elections BC at 1-800-661-8683 to register or to confirm your registration details.
Once registered, you will receive in the mail, a "Where To Vote" card with details on when and where to vote. This valuable card has been punched with a small hole in the bottom right-hand corner so that you can distinguish it from third class mail (such as advertising or promotional coupons.) This punched hole will help to identify this card so it does not accidently get tossed aside.
Elections officials have reviewed an in-depth training video which educates them on how best to assist voters with disabilities. This video, produced in collaberation with Access for Sight-Impaired Consumers, CNIB, Western Institute for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing and the Garth Homer Foundation, provides extensive awareness on how to assist voters with disabilities, including those who are blind or sight-impaired. Voters with disabilities can view an informative 6 minute summary from the training video to better understand what assistance will be available when you arrive at the polling station. Future editions of this orientation video will include descriptive narration and closed-captioning; elements that Elections BC is aiming to add before the general election in May 2009. If you are experiencing difficulty running this video on your current computer configuration, you may wish to listen to the audio track from the training video to better understand what assistance will be available when you arrive at the polling station.
We would recommend that you identify yourself to the Information Officer when you arrive at your polling station. He/she is well equipped to assist you through the voting process using some or all of the following tools:
The plastic template measures 16 centimeters by 38 centimeters and provides several holes down the right-hand side indicating where the voter can mark their ballot, depending on their candidate of choice. Each hole is clearly numbered with both tactile and Braille numbers which correspond with the order in which the candidates appear on the ballot and with the Braille list. Each candidates' name on the Braille list is also preceeded by a Brailled number to make it easier to identify which hole on the template you may wish to mark.
For those who wish to use the voter's template, election officials will load the ballot into the template. Ballots fit snuggly in the voter's template. However, if you are concerned that it may slip or become mis-aligned, you may request that the ballot be further secured with an additional clip. Be aware that you may return a ballot that was accidently spoiled to an election official and asked to obtain a replacement ballot.
Once you have marked your ballot, you may remove it from the template (if used) and fold it as per the election officials instructions. These officials have been trained to provide human-guide assistance to enable you to place your ballot into the ballot box if you so wish.
We are confident that Elections BC has done everything in their power to ensure accessibility during this by-election. We are already gearing up to provide similar access during the May 2009 provincial general election, including a Braille format of the referendum question regarding the single transferable vote issue. We would appreciate if voters who reside in the Vancouver - Burrard and Vancouver - Fairview ridings would take a moment to submit your by-election experience feedback immediately following these by-elections. We have already contacted officials who administer municiple elections to ensure the voting process (following the November 15 elections) is equally accessible.
We would like to extend our appreciation to Elections BC and, in particular, to Jill Lawrance, Ami Foster and Nancy Southcott who have worked tirelessly to ensure this level of accessibility was achieved.