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Pedro Blanco highlights the Government’s work to ensure equality and inclusion of disabled people in the electoral process

11/07/2023
Pedro Blanco highlights the Government’s work to ensure equality and inclusion of disabled people in the electoral process

The delegate values the means enabled for people with sensory, physical and intellectual disabilities to participate in the Elections of July 23 Until now, 97 blind people requested their braille voting kit and a person with hearing impairment, member of an electoral table, the attendance of a sign language interpreter The presentation of these measures was attended by the subdelegate of the Government in A Coruña, María Rivas, the territorial conselleira of the ONCE in Galicia, Corina Alfonso, and the training coordinator of the Association of Deaf People Galicia, Spain.

The government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, has today presented the measures to guarantee the accessibility of people with disabilities in the next General Elections of July 23, which “means transferring equality and inclusion, which are a sign and flag of this government, to all sectors, including the electoral”. The presentation took place at the headquarters of the Territorial Delegation of the ONCE in Galicia, in A Coruña, where Pedro Blanco reiterated the commitment to “ensure that people with disabilities exercise their right to vote, consciously, freely and voluntarily, regardless of the way of communicating it and with the means of support that it requires”.

In addition to the delegate, the subdelegate of the Government in A Coruña, María Rivas, participated in the presentation; the territorial councilor of the ONCE in Galicia, Corina Alfonso; the training coordinator of the Federation of Associations of Deaf People of Galicia, Enma Blanco, and the general secretary of the Government Delegation, Alberto de la Fuente.

Double accessibility

Accessibility in the electoral process has two aspects: the accessibility of people during voting and the accessibility of the people who make up the polling stations. It includes measures for sensory, physical and intellectual disabilities.

During today’s event, one of the kits that blind people receive to exercise the right to vote was exhibited. This kit is in the form of a briefcase and includes ballot papers with candidacies, voting envelopes and an explanatory guide in braille (in Galician and in Spanish) to manipulate the documentation and prepare the envelopes to the Congress and the Senate. The delegate explained that the kit will be available to these people at their electoral college on the day of the vote. So far, 97 people requested it in Galicia.

In the case of deaf people, the main measure is to ensure their participation at the polling stations. In this case, the Government Delegation in Galicia provides sign language interpreters to accompany them on election day. So far, a single request for this service was received for one person at an electoral table in Vimianzo (A Coruña).

For people with intellectual disabilities, the Ministry of the Interior signed an agreement with the “Full Inclusion” Confederation for the development of accessible materials and/or in an easy-to-read version for use in polling stations. In addition, the manuals for the members of the tables have a specific section dedicated to the voting of people with disabilities. All the material of these elections, from the website, mobile applications and impressions, complies with the current accessibility regulations.