Visually impaired and other PWDs will be able to vote

VISUALLY impaired, eligible voters who are conversant with the use of Braille will once again be able to cast their votes in the upcoming national elections without the assistance of polling officials or relatives.

This was the good news confirmed by the Deputy Director of Electoral Operations, Theo Mujoro, to Nampa when he said provision has been made to ensure that visually impaired voters will be able to cast their votes in Braille in the Presidential and National Assembly (NA) elections, slated for 27 and 28 November 2009.

Mujoro could, however, not give an estimate of the number of visually impaired people registered with the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN). There are around 29 000 visually impaired Namibians.

The ECN introduced the Braille ballot template in the 2004 elections, and have appointed a visually impaired person to train voters throughout the country. Mujoro said those who cannot read Braille may be assisted by relatives to cast their votes.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Director for Democracy Building in the ECN, Hilda Nakakuwa, told this news agency that the electoral body will embark upon a vigorous training programme for polling officials to ensure that details of as many people with disabilities (PWD) as possible are captured during the November elections.

Nakakuwa said attempts to capture data of PWD who cast their votes in the 2004 elections failed to produce the desired results as some returning officers did not take their duties seriously, despite having been provided with the necessary information.

The ECN distributed a total of 1 270 Braille ballot folders for tactile ballots to 127 polling stations to allow visually impaired people to vote without assistance from polling officers for the first time in 2004.

Nakakuwa said some returning officers disappointingly returned envelopes that contained forms that were supposed to capture data about PWD, such as type of disability, unopened in the 2004 elections.

“This time, we will directly train polling officials to ensure that we capture as much data as possible on PWDs for future elections,” she said.