Abstract
Voting is a core responsibility of a citizen as every citizen has equal rights to cast his/her votes during polling day. However, individuals with disabilities encountered many challenges when it comes to voting. To address these issues, we conducted a study to explore the experiences of individuals with visual impairment during polling day of the General Election 2018 in Malaysia. The study has discovered that there are some significant issues encountered by individuals with visual impairment such as trust, privacy, facilities in polling station, limited guidance in polling station and mobility. In order to prevent these obstacles this research has suggested some solutions. The findings of this research will help the government and Electoral Commission to make elections more accessible for everyone in future especially for the visual impaired people.
Highlights
The registered Person with Disabilities (PWD) at the Department of Social Welfare, Malaysia in 2017 were 453,258 persons (DOSM, 2018)
The voting process in an election is considered as a complex process for everyone that includes arriving to the poll station, getting voting number, understanding instruction given by poll worker, making selection on a ballot and casting the ballot
The feedbacks shared by participants showed that they have encountered challenges during the General Election of Malaysia 2018
Summary
The registered Person with Disabilities (PWD) at the Department of Social Welfare, Malaysia in 2017 were 453,258 persons (DOSM, 2018). People with vision impairment is the second largest group (8.9%). Based on the Persons of Disabilities Act 2008 Malaysia, Persons with Disabilities (PWD) includes those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments such as visual impairment, hearing impairment or speech impairment that cause various barriers that may hinder them from effective participation in society. One of the barrier is voting process in an election (HO & J.LIM., 2020). The voting process in an election is considered as a complex process for everyone that includes arriving to the poll station, getting voting number, understanding instruction given by poll worker, making selection on a ballot and casting the ballot. The whole process become more challenging for people who are having some disabilities especially for people with vision impairment
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