| Accessibility in Scottish polling stations
took a downward turn in May's general election. Despite a
recent push to include disabled people in the electoral
process, research by Capability Scotland, published in
August, shows voting this year was less accessible than in
the 2003 Scottish elections. Twenty four per cent of
people who took part in Polls Apart 4 Scotland survey
reported major access problems at polling stations, compared
with 17 per cent two years before.
The survey found more than half lacked disabled parking
spaces and more than one third of stations had no large
print ballot paper. There was poor guidance for postal
voters in at least a third of cases.
Capability Scotland's media manager, Julie Laird, said:
"We're disappointed that instead of the 2005 general
election being the most accessible ever, Scotland has taken
a step back with some old problems starting to creep back in
again. The challenge now is to identify the problems and
find ways to solve them."
A spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission said: "We are
aware that in practice there is not always a lot of choice
in more remote regions and access issues need to be balanced
against closing down a large number of polling stations,
which could deprive electors of a convenient local polling
station.
"We recognise there is still work to be done and we will
continue to work with electoral administrators to increase
the ways in which access to polling stations can be
improved."
She also said local authorities are responsible for
polling station accessibility. But Danny Alexander (left),
Liberal Democrat spokesperson on disability and an MP in
Scotland, said: "The voting process is overseen by the local
authorities and councils, but the electoral commission has
overall responsibility. I hope that the electoral commission
will consider this report carefully and make changes
accordingly."
He added: "I'm very concerned if there are issues around
disabled voters taking part in the democratic process. It
needs to be made as easy as possible for everyone to vote."
Reported in Disability Now September 2005 Issue |
