Voting day is almost upon us and the IEC wants to make sure that no one is left out.
The Electoral Commission of SA (IEC), together with the South African National Council for the Blind (SANCB), have developed a voting aid called the Universal Ballot Template (UBT), to assist people with disabilities and special needs to have an independent and secret vote during elections.
The UBT can be used by blind and partially-sighted people; people who are dyslexic, people with low literacy, and people with motor and nervous conditions which do not allow for a steady hand.
The templates have windows numbered in Braille and with numbers in large white font so people with different tactile, literacy, reading and sight levels can use the same template.
The IEC said that elected officials have been trained to assist the visually impaired voters in their use.
Visually-impaired voters may request the assistance of the presiding officer or a family member or friend to help them cast their ballot for the party of their choice and instructions to presiding officers also appear on the back of the templates. They may also opt to use the UBT independently.
The voter takes the ballot paper and inserts it into the template, each window will then align to a particular candidate or party and the voter is free to make his or her secret and independent mark accurately. The types of ballot used in the election will be explained and the names of parties on the ballot will be read out in the order they appear on the ballot.
Both the ballot papers and the templates have a tactile recognition feature to assist visually-impaired voters with the correct alignment of the ballot paper in the template. Ballot papers have a circular hole punched in the bottom left corner. All the templates have a built-in tactile feature on the top right-hand corner.
Every voting station will receive one template which will be available on request by any voter who needs it.
Political Bureau