The Elections Disability Access Working Group (EDAWG) had a lot of achievements in the short period they were given in their specific roles and responsibilities to improve access for persons with disabilities in all aspects of the electoral process in Fiji leading up to the 2018 General Election.
Fijian Elections Office (FEO) Director Operations, Anaseini Senimoli highlighted this during the signing of the Terms of Reference with the Elections Disability Access Working Group last Saturday.
She said some of their achievements are as follows:
- Voter Registration – the EDAWG worked with FEO and OPDs in identifying the locations of persons with disabilities who were registered and ensured that they were on the Voter Register. We conducted mobile registrations for those members who were unable to visit our registration centres.
- Polling Venues – accessibility was paramount when the working group were discussing the 1436 polling venues that were confirmed to be used as polling places in 2018. The PV list was scrutinized by the working group and recommendations were given back to FEO. As a result, one polling venue was closed because it did not meet the criteria for accessibility and an alternative venue was opened. The working group worked closely with the operations team at the FEO to ensure that there were ramps and railings available at some polling venues, there were vehicle parking spaces for disabilities, all polling stations were on the ground floor, the entrance and exit doorways allowed sufficient width area to allow wheel chair access in and out of the polling stations and waiting areas were available for voters to wait at before entering the polling stations
- Voter Education – with the assistance of the working group the FEO produced materials in large prints that was readable by persons with visual impairments. The FEO awareness team also presented the awareness program to the OPD’s before the program was launched. This allowed the OPD’s to analyse the effectiveness of these programs for persons with disabilities and gave their recommendations on how the awareness programs could be improved and enhanced to better suit the intended audience.
- FEO Website – in 2017 the FEO’s website was revamped and launched to include features and provisions for persons with disabilities.
- Recruitment and Training – Through the EDAWG, the OPD’s were encouraged to inform their members on the recruitment processes when the FEO advertised election officials’ positions. We had to tailor make some training sessions so that a person with disability could undergo the necessary trainings that were required.
- Election materials – the FEO designed and procured election materials specifically developed for polling. These included the Assisted Voting Chart featuring the 9 voting steps which are carried out inside the polling station, magnifying glass for voters with visual impairments and voting booths for wheel chair users.
- Assisted Voting – Through the working group, the FEO was able to develop procedures for assisted voting outside the polling stations for those that were unable to vote at the polling stations. Also, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act which came into effect in 2018 allowed the FEO to amend its procedures to allow voters requiring assistance to nominate a person of their choice to assist them.
