Voting by visually impaired persons

On the 9th July, 2015, the Chief Electoral Commissioner, Mr Joseph Church, met the Chairperson of the National Commission Persons with Disability, Mr Oliver Scicluna, to discuss the current facility granted at law for visually impaired persons to vote privately by means of Braille templates.  Representatives from the Malta Society for the Blind and from the Assistive Devices for the Visually Impaired organization attended the meeting.

The very minimal use of Braille templates during the April, 2015, council elections and national referendum on hunting was discussed.  The basic cause is that very few visually impaired persons know the language and, in fact, there are no teachers of Braille in Malta and Gozo.  A strategy was planned on how best to move towards a more cost-effective voting system that may be used by a larger number of visually impaired persons.