Wirral: Blind people ‘should be able to vote in secret’

Ms Redvers-Rowe, an author based in New Brighton, said she always asked for assistance at the polling station.

“I go into the booth and I use a plastic template with the numbers on,” she said, “and against each number there is a point where there’s a square you can cross.

“The person [from the polling station] has to read me the list of candidates and I have to be sure I’ve got the right number and I put my cross against [it] so I do depend completely on them reading me the correct list,” she said.

She said things had improved since she started voting, but said voting was still a visual medium.

“It’s still a very paper-based process,” she said, and as such was not accessible enough to blind and partially sighted voters.

“I think it’s important that we have the ability to make an independent vote,” Ms Redvers-Rowe said.

There are currently two main voting aids used in polling stations; a large-print ballot paper, available for reference, and a tactile voting device, a plastic template that fits over the ballot paper.

This still means people need a sighted person to read the content of the ballot paper and guide them where to put their cross.

Ms Wake, from Hoylake, said it felt “a bit unfair” the vote cannot be done in secret.

She said her arrival at the polling station often caused a stir.

“The clerks get very excited when we walk in, as they all start rummaging round for their accessible template.”

Ms Wake suggested technology could be used much better to help blind voters

She said: “They could have an audio description which could loop a blind person in, rather than having someone physically tell you.”

The pair both agreed that in 2024, it seemed strange the system was still so heavily reliant on paper.