Elections for the blind: A blind voter feels a sample of a Braille ballot during an election simulation for handicapped people held at the National Elections Commission’s office in Jakarta on Tuesday. The election body has printed ballot papers for blind people and provided aid equipment for other handicapped people to enable them to cast their votes. JP/J. Adiguna

The General Elections Commission (KPU) has agreed to supply special facilities for voters with disabilities, to help make it easier for them to vote in the upcoming polls.

The KPU said Tuesday it would print specially designed ballots for visually impaired voters using templates with Braille print to enable them to vote.

“We will start with special ballots for the Regional Representatives Council [DPD] election,” KPU member Syamsulbahri told reporters Tuesday during the unveiling of the special template.

He added the commission would prepare a Braille ballot template for each polling station across the country.

There will be 519,920 polling stations across the country’s 77 constituencies.

“For the legislative elections, visually impaired voters may be accompanied by a close family member or polling station working committee [KPPS] official to help them cast the ballot,” he said.

The KPU regulation on balloting states a person who helps a disabled voter, including a visually impaired voter, must sign a letter promising not to reveal the name of the candidate voted for by the disabled person.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 10 percent of the country’s 230 million people live with disabilities.

The Elections Center for People with Disabilities (Penca) estimates about 3.6 million people with disabilities are eligible to vote in the polls.

About 171 million people are listed as eligible voters for the legislative elections.

Penca earlier proposed lower tables inside polling booths to allow people in wheelchairs better access when casting their ballots.

It also recommended that tables be between 75 and 85 centimeters high, and that ballot boxes be no taller than 1 meter.

The KPU, however, did not comment on the recommendations.

Penca member Ariani said visually impaired voters needed between seven and 15 minutes in the polling booth, mostly to read the Braille-printed ballots for the DPD.

There are 1,109 DPD candidates in 33 provinces. Each province will be represented by four members.

The KPU says it expects voters to spent two minutes at the most inside polling booths, to ensure vote tabulation can be finished before the end of election day.

Penca has launched a series of vote simulations funded by the Foundation for Election System (IFES) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to train voters with disabilities to cast the ballots.

Ariani said that in the simulations, blind people spent more time voting for DPD candidates because they had to read the template carefully.

“They spend less time voting for legislative candidates because they can be assisted by other people,” she said.

Penca also found difficulties for visually impaired voters using ticks to mark their ballots.

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