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Barriers to voting
Transcript
7 July 2013
Roberta: With the Federal election fast approaching, the Australian Electoral Commission has made a number of improvements to the way it accommodates the needs of blind and vision impaired voters. Here to tell us more is Media Access Australia’s Eliza Cussen.
Welcome, Eliza.
Eliza: Hi, Roberta.
Roberta: Now, the Electoral Commission has just allowed online electoral enrolment. Can you tell us about that?
Eliza: Yes, for the first time the Australian Electoral Commission has made the enrolment and enrolment detail updating process entirely online and they’ve made a very lovely, fully accessible website, which is great. So I leapt on the form, started using my screen reader, as a blind person would, and could complete all the functions. I could access all the content and use the forms but when I got to the final step of the online enrolment process it asked me for an Australian Drivers Licence. Now, I and many blind and vision impaired, of course, don’t drive.
Roberta: Well, if you don’t have a driver’s licence, how can you enrol to vote?
Eliza: You have to use the old system, basically, which is completing the form online, then printing it out, signing it and then sending it back to the Electoral Commission. So basically what that means is that people with disability or young people, anyone without a driver’s licence, aren’t able to complete the same process as other people, which in my view is a discriminatory thing because it places an extra barrier between us and voting.
Roberta: So what about in the polling booths? Have any improvements been made to the voting process?
Eliza: Well, that’s kind of to be announced. The Australian Electoral Commission has stated that for the time they will allow voting by phone specifically for blind and low-vision voters. So it’s not an entirely secret ballot, which I know is what Blind Citizens Australia has been advocating for, but it is an improved system. So you can vote. I believe you get a number via text message, which registers you, and then you can vote, not quite secretly. That’s the problem.
Roberta: This is what we’re trying to avoid, isn’t it?
Eliza: Yes, so you still require assistance, basically. So, really, the current state of affairs is that a blind person can’t take part in every stage of the voting process without assistance from a sighted person, which is very disappointing in 2013.
Roberta: Well, it is because I know this has been working towards this for a very long time. So is there any move towards entirely online voting?
Eliza: Well, not at the Federal level. The Australian Electoral Commission has, in my mind, been quite slow on the uptake of this but the New South Wales Electoral Commission has made online voting possible. There was recently a state by-election for the local council, I believe in the New England region of New South Wales, up north, and a friend of mine up there, who is totally blind, was able to cast a secret ballot for the first time in his life, which I just found an amazing sign of progress.
The iVote website, which New South Wales uses, it’s fully accessible. It worked almost problem free with my friend’s screen reader. It was a dream and I really don’t see why, if New South Wales can manage it, why the Australian Electoral Commission can’t.
Roberta: Has any move, Eliza, been made to alert them to this that they can maybe have it changed before September 14?
Eliza: Well, that seems unlikely at this stage. I know Blind Citizens Australia has been working with the Electoral Commission to improve things but we are very, very close to the election. It is September 14, which is less than three months away. So it’s really getting close there.
Roberta: Well, if you have any enquires about voting, call the Australian Electoral Commission on 13 23 26 – maybe people power can do it – or visit the AEC website.
Eliza: I would like to mention that when I did call the Australian Electoral Commission, and put the scenario to them of a blind person trying to vote, the assistant on the phone was incredibly helpful and quite concerned and she made it very clear to me that anyone’s needs could be accommodated.
I do think there’s a culture in the Australian Electoral Commission of no impediment. They really don’t want there to be any barrier to anyone participating in the democratic process. They really were helpful, so I would encourage anyone who has any questions to call 13 23 36 or visit the AEC website because your needs will be met.
Roberta: I’ve been speaking with Eliza Cussen from Media Access Australia. Media Access Australia is a supporter of this program.