By Theresa Tan
Correpondent
theresat@sph.com

 

After years of frustration over the voting process, Singapore’s blind community can soon vote independently and with privacy - something which the able-bodied take for granted.

For the upcoming Aug 27 Presidential Election, the Elections Department has produced special stencils that will enable blind voters to mark their ballot papers on their own.

These plastic stencils come with box-shaped cut openings, which have been created to correspond to each candidate’s name on the ballot paper. How it works is that the presiding officer will insert the ballot paper into the stencil and pass it to the blind voter to feel the cut-outs. He will then tell the voter, in the presence of polling agents, the order of the candidates’ names on the ballot paper.

By feeling the different boxes and being verbally informed of the order of the candidates names, the blind voter can mark their choice candidate’s box on their own.

This move - though small and arguably low-tech - is a historic concession.

Just consider the difficulties a blind person has to go through to vote. He (or she) must first make his way to the polling station, occasionally a challenge even for the sighted. At the polling station, the blind voter is not allowed to bring in a family member or friend to help him mark his ballot paper.

VOTING UNASSISTED

Yet, there are no aids - such as Braille ballot papers or phone voting systems used in other countries - to allow him to vote unassisted.

In the past, some presiding officers have insisted on marking the blind voter’s ballot paper for him, after asking him his choice of candidate, the president of the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH) - Tan Guan Heng - said.

What has annoyed blind voters is that they are not allowed to get a loved one to check that their ballots are marked according to their wishes.

Mr Tan added: 'We do not doubt the integrity or sincerity of the presiding officers, but we feel more comfortable getting a family member to mark our ballot papers for us.'

For years, members of the 6,000 strong blind community were upset by what they perceived as a lack of willingness to help them vote like everyone else - with dignity, independently and with privacy.

Some have even sought their Member of Parliament’s help to address the situation, while others tore up their ballots in frustration, Mr Tan said.

Before the May General Election, the SAVH wrote to the authorities expressing its unhappiness over the situation. The community asked to bring a loved one into the polling booth to help them cast their vote.

Under the law, the Elections Department replied that family members are not allowed to help a blind voter mark his ballot as that 'may compromise the secrecy of the vote cast and may subject the voter to undue influence or pressure'. But it clarified that a presiding officer may assist a blind voter in marking his ballot, only if the voter asks for help.

The SAVH, understandably, was disappointed by that response. Hence, this latest stencil compromise has been embraced as a small but important step towards empowering them in the voting process.

Given that barely three months have passed from the last Election to the upcoming Presidential Election, blind voters see the stencils as a satisfactory - but temporary - fix. And indeed it is.

FIRST-WORLD 'VOTING'

Because as an affluent first-world nation, Singapore can surely do more for blind voters in the future.

Already, the SAVH has indicated that they prefer using Braille ballot papers, as it is easier for them to use instead of having to remember which box corresponds to which candidate in the current stencil method.

Elsewhere around the world, there are many innovative ways to help the blind vote.

In Australia, the blind are allowed to vote by telephone. They go to the polling centre, place a call to a call centre and register their vote. They can also get a family member or friend to mark their ballot.

In the United Kingdom, the blind vote through the use of a tactile voting device attached to the ballot paper, which features Braille lettering and large fonts. They can also vote by proxy, by post or take along a companion to assist them.

Even developing countries such as Indonesia and India have Braille ballot papers and electronic voting machines with Braille signages.

With a rapidly ageing population, it is timely to relook the whole voting process and come up with lasting solutions, not just for the blind, but for the growing constituencies of the old, infirm and disabled.

Alternative systems, such as voting by telephone, should be explored, given that increasingly more will have difficulties getting out of their house to vote.

Because surely, their votes count too.