The almost simultaneous voting in 27 countries during the European Parliament elections highlighted the numerous barriers that persons with disabilities face.
Reports collected by the European Disability Forum identify issues on the right to vote and being able to participate in the elections.
Right to vote
These elections still saw important discrepancies regarding the right of persons with disabilities to vote. An estimated 400,000 persons with disabilities were not able to vote. Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Poland, and Romania still deny the right to vote to persons under guardianship. There is the possibility to restrict the vote (by a court, doctors’ committee or legal guardian, for example) in Belgium, Czechia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta and Portugal.
Two countries passed legislation allowing persons with disabilities to vote regardless of legal capacity after the last European elections: Luxembourg and Slovenia.
Barriers to participate in the elections
Political information remains largely inaccessible, as shown in our April 2024 report on the inaccessibility of political parties’ channels.
We collected reports from Belgium, France, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands and Spain.
Belgium
Nadia, who votes in Brussels, managed to arrive at the voting booth but could not vote in secret or independently due to the lack of space in it. She also reported a lack of accessibility for blind or partially sighted persons or easy-to-read information in her polling station. She also signalled that persons with disabilities and their carers don’t receive any respite support to vote, despite voting being mandatory in Belgium. This leaves some people unable to vote and subject to fines.
Alexandre, a Deaf voter who also resides in Brussels, shared that he did not receive any reasonable accommodation when he was selected to help manage the elections. Instead, he was dismissed after he asked for a sign interpreter during the day.
Hungary
An advocate from Hungary reported that blind and partially sighted persons faced issues voting independently in Hungary. These were caused by the lack of instructions on how to insert the ballot paper into the Braille template, leading to blind people being unable to use it independently.
Ireland
Disability activists reported unequal access conditions on Twitter, including lack of signage, needing to using a side entrance and the length of the ballot paper. The latter was particularly worrisome as the size of the table on the voting booths was too small, leaving some persons with physical disabilities and motor difficulties unable to vote independently.
Portugal
A representative from the Cerebral Palsy Federation highlighted the ongoing issue of many polling stations still lacking physical accessibility. On top of that, voting in secret is still impossible for many persons with disabilities. The use of a “pen and paper” system means that those who are not able to write or fold the paper need someone else to do it for them – spoiling the secrecy of the process.
Netherlands
A blind voter from the Netherlands reports ongoing issues with voting in secret. The braille template does not work well because the voting ballot is folded, meaning that often the two don’t align. This means that party officials or accompanying persons must perform the voting on behalf of the person with disabilities.
Spain
Sergio – a blind voter – voted in Valencia, Spain. While the braille kit ensured a certain amount of independence to vote, he reported that this did not allow for full independence. He stated that the addition of an accessible QR code – a demand from the Spanish organisations of blind and partially sighted persons (ONCE) – would ensure full accessibility.
Positive experiences on voting
Despite the many barriers reported, there were, however, some positive experiences reported.
In France, Lars Bosselman, Executive Director of the European Blind Union, reported an accessible voting experience in Paris: “Very much to my surprise, the 38 lists from which I could choose were all displayed on a table with Braille labelling (stating the name of the political party) next to them. So, I could take the list plus another one (in order for people around me not to know for which I will vote), then go to the voting booth and insert the list of my choice in an envelope. When leaving the voting booth, I then put the envelope in the supervised box, just like everybody else.”
In Italy, a voter in Vincenza reported good physical accessibility and the existence of accessible toilets.
This reported was echoed by Gordon in Leuven (Belgium). He explained that his polling station was accessible to wheelchair users, with a large enough adapted voting booth. In addition, a manual wheelchair was provided for those that could not walk long distances.
Pirkko from Finland voted at home. 3 election officials came to her place and, when asked, left her alone to consider her options. She added that, if you choose, you can also have a person selected by you present to monitor that everything is above board. Pirkko related that it was an excellent experience.
Media coverage
Our monitoring also reported an increase in attention by international media on the issues faced by voters with disabilities. Besides articles raising awareness of the issues before the election on media such as Euronews and Euractiv, the actual issues during the elections were picked up by influent EU media such as Politico Europe, Euractiv and EUObserver – among others.