The history of Polls Apart

How it all began
In the early 1990’s Scope was contacted by a number of disabled people who had had difficulty voting. Their local polling stations were inaccessible and although they had complained to their local council nothing seemed to change.

To counter this, Scope in 1992 launched Polls Apart. The campaign focused on getting as much evidence as possible on the accessibility of polling stations throughout England and Wales. The results were startling. Over 90% of all polling stations were inaccessible in some way.

At every General Election since 1992 we have repeated the survey. We have worked with politicians, electoral administrators and other organisations with an interest in democracy to try to improve access. Changes to legislation have helped, as disabled people are now protected in law from discrimination. Many local authorities have also taken on board the need to run accessible elections.

But it is slow progress. At the 2001 General Election 66% of polling stations in Wales were still inaccessible.