Comment from the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind on Local Electoral Act to Particular Interests Work Stream, Department of Internal Affairs

As you are aware, the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind (the Foundation) made a submission to the Justice and Electoral Select Committee undertaking the Inquiry into the 2004 Local Authority Elections (see Appendix 1). In essence, the Foundation considers that blind, deafblind and vision-impaired people should have the same rights as sighted citizens to participate independently in society.  In terms of voting this right is diminished in two regards: access to information and, secrecy of voting. In particular, our submission to the Inquiry recommended that efforts be made to increase the accessibility of information, including candidate information, and that alternative voting options, including telephone voting, be provided.  Similar themes were delivered to the Justice and Electoral Select Committee when it was considering the 2005 General Election.  The Foundation, in its oral submission on the General Election, noted that blind people can (and do) feel disempowered by the voting options open to them, including postal voting. 

Postal voting requires the voter to be able to see both the information on candidates and to fill in a paper form, the ballot paper.  Accessible formats, including electronic information can facilitate access to candidate (and general voting) information and we support the recommendation of the Justice and Electoral Committee to make candidate information available in accessible formats.  We would like these accessible formats to include, in addition to large print and accessible web-based formats, voice and Braille.  In the case of voice, some members of the Foundation will have adaptive technology installed on their computers that will convert web-based print to voice (or Braille), however, these members are, as yet, few in number as only 5 percent of our 11,500 members have internet access.

In contrast, most of our members have access to telephones and, through the telephone, to the Foundation’s Telephone Information Service (TIS).  We acknowledge that a similar proportion of our membership (5 percent) currently access TIS however, the Foundation will be taking active steps to increase the number of members accessing this service by delivering additional telephone training to all new members and promoting TIS use to all members.  Should local or national government agencies wish to deliver electoral information through TIS, the Foundation would be prepared to enter into a contract to make information available to members through TIS.  We would expect those government agencies to cover the cost of making the information available, although costs are not likely to be significant.

With respect to voting, there are three ways to making voting more accessible and increase privacy for, blind, deafblind and vision-impaired voters.  These are: Braille postal information and ballot papers; internet, and; telephone voting.  Each of these will be discussed briefly. 

Braille Voting

Braille voting would be an effective complement to postal voting and the Foundation could assist with preparing candidate information and voting papers in Braille. We do, however, acknowledge that Braille is a tactile approach to reading which only about 300 – 400 of our members are proficient with (mostly those who have been blind from birth) and while we strongly support and encourage the use of Braille we recognise that, given the variety of local elections and electorates that this may be a cost prohibitive option relative to the numbers served, and where other options can improve access to information and privacy to these members.  The current Local Electoral Regulations (2001) do not appear to exclude Braille as an option within the definition of postal voting as an authorised voting method.

Internet Voting

As mentioned, about 5 percent of our members have internet access. It is important to recognise that our members are disproportionately older, with over half of our members aged 80 years and older and only 25 percent aged 20 - 64 years of age.  Given this age profile, our members are not as likely as the general population to adopt internet use and the associated adaptive technologies required to support computer use by blind, deafblind and vision-impaired users.  However, internet voting is undoubtedly a viable and desirable option.  Its use, as we noted in our submission, is supported by a variety of examples including internet banking in New Zealand and the recent 2006 New Zealand Census.  We also consider that internet voting has much wider applicability, both to other print disabled people and the general population.  Consequently, the benefits of internet voting, while considerable for only a small proportion of our members currently, would be much more wide-spread.   However, as you will be aware, it would appear that under the current regulations, internet voting is not a legally valid method and permissibility through regulation or amendment of the Act would need to be achieved.

Telephone Voting

As noted above, most of our 11,500 members have access to a telephone, as do the majority of New Zealanders. In addition, the Foundation has developed a telephone system for members which provides otherwise inaccessible print information as voice messages. As stated in our earlier submission, we have also used TIS for the purpose of member voting to elect the Foundation’s Board. Approximately 100 members voted for Board members on TIS during our last Board elections.  The system proved very successful.  We will continue to use TIS for Board elections in the future and we would expect the number of members voting on TIS to increase.  Our system, as developed to date, is not as secure as may be desirable for the purpose of selecting elected officials for national elections, although this is not to say that it is not possible to develop a sufficiently secure system.  If the use by the banking industry of telephone-banking is considered, secure telephone systems for the transfer of money have been in use in New Zealand for many years now.  It may be reasonable to assume that a similar degree of security is required for financial transactions as for the selection of elected officials.

The current version of TIS would need further development to increase its security if it was to be used for the purpose of voting for local and national government elections and the Foundation would be prepared to undertake further development of TIS, if funding was made available.  Alternatively, the Foundation would be happy to meet with officials from the Department of Internal Affairs to discuss our experience or to refer you to the TIS developer, Clive Lansink, one of our members. 

We note that, as for internet voting the use of telephone voting would require an amendment to the Regulations or the Act in order that this voting method was permissible under the Act.  We would recommend that such an amendment was made to the Act or through Regulation whether or not implementation is planned and while the Department undertakes further feasibility analysis.

Should you require further information please contact Ruth Bijl directly on rbijl or 0275 423 523.

Paula Daye

Chief Executive Officer 

Appendix 1: Submission to Select Committee

Inquiry into 2004 Local Authority Elections: A submission from the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind

The Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind (the Foundation) is a disability support service constituted under the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind Act 2002. It is the primary provider of habilitation and rehabilitation services to over 11,500 blind, vision-impaired and deafblind New Zealanders.

Our vision is that blind and vision-impaired people have the same opportunities and choices as other citizens to participate fully in society. Our mission is to remove the barriers faced by blind or vision-impaired individuals and to promote their participation in all aspects of life. We work in a range of partnerships to ensure the incidence of preventable blindness is minimised.

Services we provide include specialist assessments, orientation and mobility training for adults and children, communication and adaptive technology instruction, guide dog services, talking book and braille library services, instruction in the techniques of daily living, and vocational services. We operate services specific to the needs of Māori and of Pacific Island communities. We provide advice and training on access and disability issues.

Previously the Foundation has made a submission to the Chief Electoral Office on improving services to voters with disabilities. Our submission is referred to in the Office’s Disability Action Plan: Improving Access to Voting for Disabled People (http://www.elections.org.nz/votin/disabled.html).

Overview

The Foundation welcomes this inquiry into local authority elections and believes that it provides an opportunity to ensure that blind and vision-impaired citizens can enjoy the same degree of access, independence and privacy available to sighted voters. Current electoral practices make it difficult for people who cannot read print to exercise their right to vote in an equitable way. This will be a growing problem over the next two decades as baby boomers hit the age group within which vision problems often become manifest.

It should be remembered that there are many more persons in New Zealand who are vision impaired than are members of the Foundation.[i] Improving the accessibility of local authority elections for Foundation members is likely to increase voter participation across society (e.g. among people with literacy problems or reading disabilities, or for whom English is a second language). Information that is tailored for one group often meets the needs of another.

There are four sections to this submission:

1) What makes it difficult for blind and vision-impaired people to vote in

local authority elections?

2) Recommendations

2.1) Independent voting by telephone

2.2) Internet voting

2.3) Braille voting

2.4) Provision of electoral information to the blind and vision impaired

2.5) Voting places

3) Conclusion

4) Appendix: summary of recommendations

In addition to the information provided below, the Foundation would like to have the opportunity to speak to its submission.

1. What makes it difficult for blind and vision-impaired people to vote in local authority elections?

Blind and vision-impaired voters can use the provisions of the Local Electoral Regulations 2002 (SR 2001/145) s.34 “Specified difficulties in voting” to authorize a person to assist them with voting. In some parts of the country voters do not have to visit a polling booth to cast their vote, and postal voting does enable a voter to take time to consider and fill in the voting forms at home.

Blind and vision-impaired people nevertheless continue to encounter barriers that hinder or even discourage their voting. Some of these barriers are acknowledged by the Chief Electoral Office in its Disability Action Plan. The barriers also exist when voting in other than general elections.

Barriers include:

• Inadequate information on voting rights and electoral processes, and uneven or no access to candidate profile statements.
• Difficulties reading and completing voting papers independently and in secret.
• Inaccessible voting systems and places.

At the time of the 2004 local authority elections blind and vision-impaired individuals commented to the Foundation that they had great difficulty accessing candidate profile statements. These were printed and distributed in small print, and were too long a read for most blind people to ask a family member or volunteer to read aloud or on to tape in full. Although much candidate information was available on the internet, this varied from one authority to another and was not consistently presented in forms accessible to people using adaptive technology. The Foundation estimates that although internet use by blind and vision-impaired New Zealanders is increasing, fewer than 500 of its members would have been able to locate and use candidate information on the internet.

Systems based on standard print and printed ballot papers cannot fully address the barriers to voting which exist for people who cannot read standard print. Blind people read through audio or braille, or via computers loaded with adaptive technology, e.g. braille or speech output.

2. Recommendations

2.1 Independent voting by telephone

The Foundation recommends telephone voting as an option for blind and vision-impaired voters. It is already a method widely used by New ZealandBritain

Telephone voting is particularly suited to improving the turnout of blind voters because

·         blind people are already competent users of the telephone;

·         blind voters are almost certain to have a telephone in their homes and be able to use it; and

·         blind voters would be able to cast their vote independently and in secret.

Telephone voting would work in much the same way as ordering items on-line. Voters would:

·         dial into the system;

·         familiarise themselves with candidates and political parties;

·         enter a secure zone by keying in a user ID and PIN (as with telephone banking);

·         vote by pressing a number on their telephone keypad;

·         review their choices;

·         be able to deselect choices;

·         confirm their choices and exit the secure zone.

2.2 Internet voting

Increasing numbers of blind New Zealanders are online. They access web information using adaptive technology that turns text into synthesized speech or braille.

The Foundation considers internet voting an important means of increasing voter access. Like voting by telephone, the internet would allow blind and vision-impaired New Zealanders to exercise their right to vote independently and in secret. However, socio-economic factors (e.g. 68% of our members are over the age of 65) mean that far fewer blind people have access to internet capable computers than to the telephone. It is for this reason that the Foundation prioritizes phone voting ahead of internet voting.

The Foundation believes that in the longer term electronic voting could become the standard for the majority of voters. Even within polling booths, there could be machines designed along the lines of talking automatic teller machines: the blind voter would plug headphones into the machine and listen to synthetic speech instructions in complete privacy.

The Chief Electoral Office has signaled its intention to trial online voting in the 2008 general election, subject to Parliament’s approval. A similar trial should be undertaken for local authority elections.

2.3 Braille voting

The third voting option which the Foundation endorses is voting by braille. Braille ballots have been successfully used as a means of voting for the Foundation’s Board of Directors. A special voting pack produced for braille readers allowed totally blind people to vote for the first time without needing help from a sighted person. While braille-card voting would not assist voters who cannot read braille, it would increase the degree of access, confidentiality and independence available to some blind and deafblind voters. The number of local authorities and district health boards means that the braille voting option could feasibly be provided only on a negotiated basis. The Foundation requests that in the interests of equity this option not be immediately dismissed as unworkable or too expensive, and that it be explored further between the Department of Internal Affairs and the Foundation.

2.4 Provision of electoral information to the blind, vision-impaired, and deafblind

In order to participate in elections, blind, vision-impaired, and other print disabled voters must be able to access independently the range of electoral information available to the community generally. In its areas of responsibility, the Chief Electoral Office is developing strategies for communicating information to disabled voters.

Information required by voters includes details of voter entitlement and registration, territorial areas and voting process, the candidate profile statements (see the Local Electoral Act 2001 s.61), and any other brochures disseminated for the attention of voters. Such information needs to be in a range of formats: audio, braille, large print, and electronic text. Large print versions must be designed so that the font is of adequate size, and not compromised by any background images; high gloss paper is unacceptable because of the way light shines on it and prevents readers from further magnifying the text. Web versions must conform to Government web accessibility standards and must offer any downloads in text or Word as well as PDF options.

The Foundation recommends that an XML publishing solution is developed for creating, storing, and providing election information to partner bodies. The use of Extensible Mark Up Language would assist the timely conversion of content into formats such as HTML for web sites, braille and synthetic speech files (the latter to be delivered via the Foundation’s Telephone Information Service).

2.5 Voting places

Standards for the accessibility of voting places used in local authority elections should be applied. Specifications should cover physical access (parking, access routes, entrances, internal routes), signs, lighting, furniture, and directional assistance from staff. Disability awareness training for local authority staff responsible for managing voting and providing support to voters would be beneficial to voters and give staff confidence in their own ability to assist voters who are blind or vision impaired. Deafblind voters are likely to require particularly targeted assistance. Again, the Chief Electoral Office is reviewing its voting place arrangements and accessibility checklists.

3. Conclusion

The Foundation endorses the need to review the accessibility of voting for people with disabilities, and of course with special regard to those whose vision impairment or blindness prevents them from reading standard print. That is the focus of our submission, although improving the accessibility of the elections would have a positive effect on voter participation across the board.

The Foundation believes that an action plan should be developed to ensure the accessibility of voting in local authority and district health board elections, consistent with the aims of the New Zealand Disability Strategy. The plan would address the key obstacles of information that is not currently accessible and voting systems that cannot be independently used by blind, vision-impaired, and deafblind citizens. The Foundation can advise on and develop a programme of  awareness training for staff who will interact with blind, vision-impaired, and deafblind voters.

The Foundation's Accessible Format Production department produces candidate information and voting solutions to enable blind and vision-impaired members to vote independently in elections for the Board of Directors of the Foundation. For many years the Foundation has been contracted by government agencies to produce many kinds of reading material in accessible form, e.g. census information. This expertise is available to the agencies responsible for local authority and district health board elections.

The Foundation is keen to see local body elections in 2007 that are truly accessible for New Zealand

4. Appendix: Summary of recommendations

• • Telephone voting is an option for blind and vision-impaired voters in local authority elections.
  • Internet voting is trialed for local authority elections.
  • The options for braille voting systems are explored.
  • Written material disseminated for the information of voters, including candidate profile statements, is available in accessible formats: audio, braille, large print and electronic text.
  • Web versions of official election information conform to Government web accessibility standards.
  • An XML publishing solution is developed for creating and storing election information.
  • Standards covering the accessibility of voting places and services are applied.
  • Awareness training is provided to local authority staff who will be responsible for liaising with blind, vision-impaired, or deafblind voters.
  • An action plan is developed to ensure the accessibility of voting in the 2007 local authority and district health board elections.

• [i] See Statistics New Zealand, 2001 New Zealand Disability Survey Snapshot 6: 

  “An estimated 81,500 New Zealand adults were blind or had a sight limitation that could not be corrected by glasses or contact lenses in 2001. Approximately 7,800 of these adults were completely blind, the rest had some level of seeing limitation that made it difficult for them to see ordinary newspaper print, or see the face of someone across the room (with glasses or contact lenses if they usually wear them).

  An estimated 13,200 children were blind or had trouble with their eyesight that could not be corrected by glasses or contact lenses. Seventeen percent of these children (2,300) had been diagnosed as being blind by an eye specialist.”