We would like to thank everyone in the West of England who completed a Polls
Apart survey when they went to vote. Particular thanks go to members of Scope’s
West Partnership Committee, the Campaign’s Network and the staff of
the West Community Team.
The Returning Officer has been told by various groups and individuals for years and years that many of his polling stations in Radstock (where I live) are not accessible. He has done nothing about it. If ever someone should be named and shamed and prosecuted under the DDA, he should.
Polls Apart 2005 volunteer, Wansdyke
Polls Apart: West (Word Document 69KB)
In general results for the West of England were better than those for the UK as a whole. 80% of polling stations in the West of England provided a large print notice of the ballot paper and a tactile voting device - a significant improvement on the UK wide findings. Though this is very encouraging it must be noted that these are legal requirements under the Representation of the People Act 2000 so there is still significant work to be done to ensure that 100% of polling stations are compliant.
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 98% of polling station staff were helpful and friendly in the West of England, 2% better than the UK average.
71% of polling station in the West of England 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 and are one of the simplest ways to improve access at a polling station.
Though the West of England performed well in relation to other regions of the UK 63% of polling stations still failed the Polls Apart basic access test.
61% of polling stations in the West of England had level access, compared to 60% UK wide. No disabled person should have to vote in the street because their polling station isn’t accessible yet disabled voters would have been excluded from nearly 40% of polling stations in use in the West of England.
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.
The increase in the use of poorly designed and unsafe ramps suggests 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 yet in the West of England 38% of ramps were inappropriately
designed.
Distance to the polling station can be a major access barrier for disabled
voters especially in rural areas where public transport is limited. This is
a particular issue in the West of England where 30% of voters had to travel
more than a mile to vote compared to just 17% nationwide
Whichever way we look at it access to polling stations in the West of England is still poor. 63% of polling stations in the region failed our basic access test. This means that many disabled people in the West of England 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 West of England region performed better in many areas than
the nationwide average it is clear that significant improvements are still
needed before all disabled people have equal access to the voting process.
