I tried three times to see if the back gate was opened as promised and it was not. I was told they could not open it as it was a security problem and they could not find any one to man it. So I had to drive to the polling station down a road, which had humps. This causes me great pain. The staff could not care less, people who were logging voters thought it was funny that I had difficulty in getting into the building.”
Polls Apart 2005 volunteer, Eastbourne
Polls Apart: South East (Word Document 69KB)
In some areas results from the South East were quite positive. 87% of respondents lived within a mile of their polling station compared to 84% UK wide. Distance to the polling station can be a major access barrier so these findings are encouraging.
The attitudes of polling station staff towards disabled voters and the way staff provide support to vote can make a huge difference to a disabled person’s experience of voting so it was very positive that 95% of polling station staff were helpful and friendly in the South East.
This election saw an increase in the use of poorly designed and unsafe ramps
suggesting that temporary ramps are widely being used as an inappropriate
alternative to permanent access adjustments. Badly designed or fitted ramps
are dangerous and do nothing to improve access. In the South East 34% of ramps
were inappropriately designed. Though is better than the national average
of 36% there is still huge room for improvement.
The South East performed poorly in relation to other regions of the UK with 76% of polling stations failing the Polls Apart basic access test.
Only 56% of polling stations in the South East had level access, compared to 60% UK wide. This prompts serious questions about the extent to which service providers are complying with the October 2004 Disability Discrimination Act duties. To make matters worse many disabled people reported that many buildings did in fact have ramps or accessible entrances but that these were locked away or not used.
54% of polling station in the South East had low-level ballot booths compared to 68% nationwide. Low-level ballot booths guarantee privacy for wheelchair users and disabled and older voters who may need to sit down to vote. It is clear that some constituencies in the South East did not provide a low-level booth in any of their polling stations. If this is an official policy then it should be reversed before the next election.
Also of concern was the provision made for voters with visual and other impairments.
Only 59% of polling stations in the South East had a large print notice of
the ballot paper on display while only 56% provided a tactile voting device.
This is compared to nationwide figures of 70% and 68% respectively. These
are both legal requirements under the Representation of the People Act and
failure to comply is breaking the law but also means voters with visual and
coordination impairments cannot mark their ballot paper independently and
therefore cannot cast their vote in secret.
Whichever way we look at it access to polling stations in the South East is still very poor. 76% of polling stations in the region failed our basic access test. This means that many disabled people in the South East would have found it difficult or impossible to vote at the General Election 2005.
The UK wide Polls Apart 2005 evaluation results were very disappointing revealing
that the number of accessible polling stations has only improved by 1% since
2001. Though the South East region performed better in some areas than the
nationwide average it is extremely concerning that in many areas performance
was significantly worse than the national average.
