CAPE TOWN - The IEC has remained mum regarding allegations that it excluded blind and partially sighted voters from casting their ballots, and doing so in secrecy, due to operational and technical issues.
This, after calls from the South African National Council for the Blind for the IEC to publicly account for its “failure to perform with integrity and due efficiency” at the expense of blind and visually impaired persons.
Complaints included Universal Ballot Templates (UBT) not available in many voting stations across the country which resulted in blind and partially sighted hopeful voters allegedly being turned away in some stations, waiting hours before casting their vote, no secretary as they had to be assisted to make their mark, and IEC staff not adequately trained to assist.
While the IEC did not respond to questions this week, South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) commissioner Chris Nissen also expressed disappointment at the matter.
“The IEC has more than two decades of experience of elections so there is absolutely no excuse that there were no UBTs at voting stations. This is just carelessness. The right to vote is enshrined in the constitution so we will definitely take up the complaints with the IEC as part of our monitoring.”
The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) Election Satisfaction Survey 2021 meanwhile found that many voters with some form of disability, including visually impaired and blind people, were content with the local government elections.
South African Social Attitudes Survey and Chief Research Specialist at the HSRC, Benjamin Roberts said on Thursday of the 12 229 voters interviewed, more than 1 000 were persons with some form of disability, including visually impaired.
“We found that despite the concerns raised, 87% of persons with disabilities generally believe that the voting procedure at the stations considered their needs.
“Amongst blind and partially sighted voters, 82% were also happy with provisions. They are generally satisfied that their needs are being considered by the IEC but that doesn’t take away the concerns raised by the blind sector and organisations. UBTs are critical tools that are needed during the election process. There is an element of some issue there,” said Roberts.
Cape Times