Memorandum by The Royal National Institution
of the Blind (RNIB) (VOT 28)
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 RNIB welcomes the decision of the ODPM
and Constitutional Affairs Committees to conduct an inquiry into
electoral registration.
1.2 RNIB believes that facilitating "multi-channel"
elections, allowing the registration and fulfilling of individual
access needs and telephone and online registration are all potential
benefits.
1.3 However, there are dangers that the
advantages of individual registration could be lost if steps are
not taken to make the process accessible for blind and partially
sighted people.
1.4 RNIB also welcome the fact that the
Department of Constitutional Affairs took the opportunity to involve
us in early consultation about individual voter registration.
We hope that they will continue to work in partnership with RNIB
to make sure that blind and partially sighted people benefit from
individual voter registration.
2. ADVANTAGES
OF INDIVIDUAL
REGISTRATION FOR
BLIND AND
PARTIALLY SIGHTED
PEOPLE
2.1 RNIB agrees that facilitating "multi-channel"
elections, allowing the registration and fulfilling of individual
access needs and telephone and online registration are all potential
benefits.
2.2 RNIB were opposed to all-postal voting
for elections. Postal voting helps to make the electoral process
more accessible for those with physical impairments who have difficulty
gaining access to polling stations. However, postal voting is
very inaccessible for most visually impaired people. Therefore
the more methods of voting that are available the more likely
it is that all disabled people with a wide range of impairments
will be able to vote. We welcome the recommendations of the Electoral
Commission to develop a new foundation model of voting offering
electors more than one method of voting. RNIB will be working
with the Electoral Commission to develop this model. We also welcome
the inquiry that the ODPM Select Committee undertook in to all-postal
voting and its role in highlighting the difficulties it presented
for blind and partially sighted people.
2.3 RNIB has for a long time campaigned
for the registration of people's access needs as part of the electoral
registration process. We believe electoral officers should actively
seek information about each voter's access needs, as part of the
registration process, including preferred format (such as large
print, audio, braille and electronic). Future information, including
invitations to be included on the electoral role and polling cards,
ballot papers and voting information should be sent in that format.
2.4 Online and telephone voting could also
be an advantage; we outline the issues in section 4 below.
3. STRATEGIES
FOR ENCOURAGING
VOTER REGISTRATION
AMONGST BLIND
AND PARTIALLY
SIGHTED VOTERS
3.1 RNIB believe that one of the most difficult
challenges facing blind and partially sighted people in the voter
registration process is that they may not even be aware that they
have been asked to register to vote. Many visually impaired people
are often older and often live on their own. They often rely on
friends and relatives to read their correspondence once a week
or even less frequently. The Electoral Commission report on electoral
registration quoted above suggests that many local authorities
are abandoning the canvass because of reasons including the threat
of violence affecting the recruitment of canvassers and the law
of diminishing returns in cases were people are resistant to registering.
We welcome the recommendation of the Electoral Commission that
the canvass be retained pending a review of the situation when
other changes from their review are implemented and in light of
their research. However, in the long term we believe canvassing
should remain because as people grow older they are more likely
to lose their sight and need assistance.
3.2 However, as a number of visually impaired
people can't access the voter registration forms or the associated
publicity campaigns we believe that other ways of promoting voter
registration amongst blind and partially sighted people must to
be found. We would suggest that publicity campaigns in accessible
formats should be undertaken through local talking newspapers,
local radio advertising and local societies for the blind. Advertisements
on bus stops and in newspapers should give a contact number for
those needing help filling in the voter registration form. Every
person who is registered as blind or partially sighted with the
local social services should also be contacted. Electoral Registration
forms must also follow RNIB clear print guidelines so as to be
accessible by the maximum number of people with sight difficulties.
3.3 The Electoral Commission in their report
talks about the need for set up a national framework for monitoring
of under registration and research into rates of registration.
RNIB believe that it is essential that this research and monitoring
includes blind and partially sighted people as a group.
4. ADVANTAGES
OR DISADVANTAGES
OF ELECTRONIC
RATHER THAN
PAPER-BASED
SYSTEMS
4.1 We agree with the assertion paragraph
3.16 of the Electoral Commission Report The Electoral Registration
Process that online and telephone voting could be of benefit to
disabled people including those with site problems. However, the
website on which people register must be compatible with access
technology. Details about how to make websites accessible are
available from www.rnib.org.uk/webaccesscentre. However, many
visually impaired people don't have Internet access at home. In
theory public libraries have computers with access technology
but staff often don't know how to use it or don't have the time
to train visually impaired people so that they can register to
vote independently. It is therefore essential that telephone registration
is an option for all disabled people not just those who are changing
their details as suggested in the introduction to the above report.
5. DIFFICULTIES
FOR DISABLED
PEOPLE AND
OTHERS UNABLE
TO COMPLETE
FORMS
5.1 According to colleagues from RNIB Northern
Ireland the lack of accessible forms has been one of the biggest
difficulties in Northern Ireland were there is already a system
of individual voter registration. Online and telephone registration
could overcome these problems.
5.2 The requirement to use a unique registration
number, which is proposed by the Electoral Commission, presents
similar issues to those that pin numbers issued by banks pose
for blind and partially sighted people. RNIB has advised banks
about issuing pin numbers in accessible formats and would be happy
to offer the Department of Constitutional Affairs and/or the Electoral
Commission similar advice. It is also essential that those using
the phone to register or to vote can say their pin number as well
as enter it via the keypad.
6. AVAILABILITY
AND CONFIDENTIALITY
OF THE
REGISTER
6.1 In addition to the general issue about
confidentiality there is the issue about how widely access details,
which would be newly added to the electoral register would be
made available. Would they be removed from the electoral register,
which is sold by town halls, and if so, should it be available
to political parties? The more widely the information is available
the more likely it is that information from political parties
and other information is made accessible to blind and partially
sighted people. However, the information may highlight vulnerability
to potential criminals. Having candidates booklets like the ones
produced for the last two London Mayoral Elections, with booklets
automatically being sent out in accessible formats, by local authority
electoral services departments, to those that identified that
they needed them when they registered to vote would help reduce
the need to publicise information about access needs. RNIB will
consult further with its members on this issue but would encourage
the Department of Constitutional Affairs and the Electoral Commission
to consult disabled people more widely.
| 
