Voting in Scotland and UK elections

RNIB’s Turned Out 2024 report on voting experiences of blind and partially sighted people July 2024 General Election found that:

• Only a quarter of blind people (26 per cent) feel that the current system allows them to vote independently and in secret.
• Only half of blind and partially sighted voters were satisfied with their voting experience at this year’s General Election.
• 73 per cent did not know that they could request reasonable adjustments from their local electoral services and 94 per cent of respondents did not request any reasonable adjustments.
• 68 per cent of blind postal voters had assistance from another person to enable them to vote.
• 66 per cent of blind people who voted at the polling station had assistance from either a companion or member of polling station staff.
• 28 per cent of all respondents said the support provided by polling station staff was either poor or very poor; however, nearly half (47 per cent) thought it was good, or very good.

To ensure an accessible vote for all, the Turned Out 2024 report recommends that the UK Government, the Scottish Government, local authorities, and the Electoral Commission need to:

1. Ensure audio and tactile voting solutions are available in every polling station.
2. Continue to proactively identify accessible voting solutions, including initiatives like telephone voting, and make these available to all blind and partially sighted people in the UK.
3. Review and revise the postal voting system to make it accessible for blind and partially sighted people.

The 2024 General Election was the first at which the photo ID requirement of the UK Elections Act 2022 was in place. Voter ID is required for UK-wide elections in Scotland such as General Elections but not for Scotland-wide elections.

95 per cent of the Turned Out survey respondents were aware of the requirement before the General Election, although 54 per cent either did not know or were not sure where to find information about voter ID. Seven per cent of respondents said it would make them less likely to vote in future elections, and as these self-selecting survey respondents are evidently more likely to be politically engaged, this figure could under-represent the extent of the issue. Research by RNIB from 2021 found 13 per cent of blind and partially sighted people have no photo ID. We remain concerned that voter ID has made the electoral process even less accessible for blind and partially sighted people.

The Scotland Act 2016 devolved legislative responsibility to the Scottish Parliament for running Scotland-wide elections (Scottish Parliament, Local Government; and referenda), while Scottish electoral officials administer UK-wide elections in Scotland under UK legislation. The Scottish Elections (Reform) Act 2020 contains separate measures relating to electoral administration in Scotland. This included requiring the Electoral Commission in Scotland to publish reports on the accessibility of elections in Scotland. The Scottish Elections (Reform and Representation) Bill is currently progressing through the Scottish Parliament.

RNIB Scotland is working closely with the Scottish Government Elections Team and the Electoral Commission to improve the accessibility of elections in Scotland and to test potential accessible voting solutions for blind and partially sighted voters. The standard aid currently in use is the Tactile Voting Device (TVD), a thin plastic template that is placed on a ballot paper to help locate where to vote for a preferred candidate. However, as it doesn't provide the names of the candidates, in practice most blind or partially sighted people need assistance to vote.

In April 2024, we collaborated with the Forth Valley Sensory Centre, the Scottish Government Elections Team, and the Electoral Management Board for Scotland to test the usability of card ballot paper overlays, a potential replacement for the TVD.

This was the first time the card ballot paper overlay had been shown to visually impaired voters for feedback and the aim was to see if it worked in assisting voting and how it could be improved. Six blind and partially sighted people gave their feedback. The test results were very encouraging although further work must be done.

The goal is to combine a ballot paper overlay (a tactile voting aid) with a phone helpline (an audio voting aid) to identify candidate names and order. In addition, blind and partially sighted voters may use magnifiers to aid reading the ballot paper or smart phones to make a postcode check to list their election candidates by ballot paper order.

Options such as the ballot paper overlay, telephone helplines or other audio aids like QR codes would not need legislation since adjustments to the election rules are not required. That means these could be piloted without legislation being needed.

We are keen and ready to work with people with sight loss and the Scottish sight loss sector alongside the Scottish Government Elections Team, the Electoral Management Board for Scotland, and the Electoral Commission to develop feasible accessible voting aids for blind and partially sighted voters.

If you have a voting experience you would like to share with us, you can contact us at: [email protected].