Accessible voting at the federal election

On 16 March 2009, the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) released a report recommending that the government should not continue to pursue accessible voting for people who are blind or vision impaired.  Select the above link to read the report.

Blind Citizens Australia is strongly of the opinion that this recommendation must be disregarded. We urge the government to protect our basic human right to participate in political and public life as stated in Article 29 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights  of Persons with a Disability.

We have developed a letter for you to use as a pro-forma letter to write to your local MP and express concern about the recommendation that electronic voting be stopped. You will notice in the letter that some words are surrounded by double asterisks (**). These are items for you to change or personalize. We are happy for you to pass this letter on to anyone who may be interested in sending it themselves, regardless of whether or not they are a BCA member.

You can find out who your local federal MP is by looking at the Australian Electoral Commission website at:

www.aec.gov.au under “Enrolling to Vote > Check Your Enrolment Details”

or by calling them on 13 23 26.

Alternatively, you can call the BCA office if you need assistance.

You might also like to send the letter to Bill Shorten, the Parliamentary Secretary for Disability and Children’s Services. His details are:

The Hon Bill Shorten MP

Parliamentary Secretary for Disability and Children’s Services

PO Box 6022

House of Representatives

Parliament House

Canberra ACT 2600