Local elections: Voters with disabilities encounter problems casting their ballot

Voters with disabilities have encountered problems taking part in Belgium's local elections - with campaigners calling for action before next year's federal and European vote.

The European Disability Forum has received reports of inaccessible polling stations, poorly designed touch-screen terminals, and a voter with intellectual disabilities who wanted to vote but was excluded from the electoral roll.

Seppe Hemerijckx, who voted in Bunsbeek, Flemish Brabant, said the voting terminal was too high to use from a wheelchair - and he needed someone else to tap the screen.

"Why do people with disabilities have no right to vote in privacy?" he told Het Laatste Nieuws. "Do I have no right to vote myself without help? Create a QR code to vote via smartphone or just provide a wireless mouse.

"People with disabilities have the same right to vote in peace and privacy. This country urgently needs to work on this problem because I am sure I am not alone."

Access to the polling station itself was also an issue, with one voter tweeting: "It was an old building with steps, so they had put up steep, temporary ramps."

European Disability Forum policy coordinator Alejandro Moledo, who is partially sighted, said the touch-screen terminals used in Brussels (and Flanders) had not been designed with visually impaired people in mind.

"I voted in Brussels for the first time," he told The Bulletin. "It was frustrating to have to get help to vote. Almost any device nowadays - including voting machines in other countries - allows you to increase the font size and is able to read out loud what appears on screen. How come these voting machines don't?"

He added: "I was also very sad to learn about cases of people who wanted to vote but didn’t have the right to. You would think that politicians would want to get more people voting, but it’s an unfortunate reality in all of Europe and it has to get better."

Disability and democracy campaigners say there is a lot of work to be done before next May's European elections. Recommendations include easy-to-read manifestos, better training for civil servants to help people with disabilities register to vote, accessible venues for election campaigning events and photos of the candidates on ballot papers.