This is how a typical election day would start in my house. Me, my father and my mother all have the same residential address and so our polling booth is the same. So my father, who wakes up really early, would go to cast his vote at 8 A.M. Before he left, I would tell him which candidate I want to vote for and so he would make a note of the ordinal position of that candidate’s button on the EVM. He would come back and impart this crucial information to me. Then in the afternoon, I and my mom would go to cast our vote. My mother always went ahead of me so that she can check if the ordinal position reported by my father is in fact correct or not. Then, finally, I would step into the booth, place my fingers on the top most button, count down to the button of my choice, and press it.
That is how I cast my vote in two national and two assembly elections, until 2019.
Looking for a better way
Although this method was fine (I mean, my parents did not mind spying on the EVM layouts for me), I could never be sure if in fact after all these steps of gathering and verifying information, whether I pressed the correct button or not.
And so in the 2019 national elections, I said to myself that this can’t be my only strategy. What if tomorrow I shift to a new place and have to go alone to vote? And so began my search for voting provisions for visually impaired citizens.
Well, actually, the search ended before it could begin as the very first source was so detailed and clear that I didn’t have to look any further. I stumbled upon this Youtube video that explained, with enacted examples and sign language, all the voting provisions that the government of India has ensured for people with any kind of physical disability.
Let’s do things the right way
For people with visual impairment, there are basically two ways:
#1 Vote with the help of a braille guide:
if you can read braille, nothing like it. On the polling booth, all you need to do is ask for the braille guide. The guide would have all the details written in braille that are mentioned on the EVM. Because of lack of space, I suppose, the complete information is not mentioned on the EVM machine directly. What is mentioned is the serial number of each candidate/ party. So you can first go through the braille guide, note the serial number of your preferred candidate from that guide, and then simply find the braille sign of that number on the EVM and press the button next to it.
Because I had just started learning braille and so wasn’t very confident in my braille reading skills, I didn’t consider this option for myself. Although, this made it easy for me to vote using just my father’s information. As he had told me the serial number of my preferred candidate, and I could read numbers in braille, I could easily find the number and vote.
#2 Voting with the help of a human guide:
As visually impaired people, we are so used to taking help for many of the most basic tasks. And although I do believe that one should be as independent as possible, I also feel that if taking somebody’s help reduces your anxiety and makes you more confident, do it… So for all those people who can’t read either print or braille, the ECI has provided the simplest way out. Just take somebody to help you out. And this can be another voter who is casting their vote at the same booth.
In my case it was my mother. She went along with me, helped me sign at the various places, cast her own vote and then helped me cast my vote. All we had to do was to inform the polling staff that I am visually impaired and so would be needing her help and my mother had to sign a declaration form. And although they did not ask me for any disability proof, I would suggest you take it along, just in case…
The final note
All I can say is that I felt truly empowered after casting this particular vote. I know many would feel that what’s the big deal in this? But many others would understand that for us, at times, simply navigating the streets and staircases can be empowering.
Ever since I have turned 18 and received my voting rights, I haven’t ever missed an election. I have voted in each one, albeit using peculiar and lengthy tactics. But I know many people with disabilities do not exercise this right of theirs just because they are scared of the process. How will we go? How will we communicate? How will we sign? Etc… but trust me, it has all been taken care of. From making sure of providing wheel chair accessible entry and exit points, to allowing your own helpers to assist you, the voting process has been made as convenient as it can be. India isn’t the biggest democracy for nothing…
So if you are somebody who has refrained from participating in the elections, make sure you exercise this right and fulfil this duty of yours in the next elections.
