Blind voters join poll simulation

Desy Nurhayati ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 07/04/2009 1:05 PM  |  City

Twenty-eight-year-old Surya Pramono was relieved as he exited the voting booth Friday and inserted his marked ballot for the presidential election.

A polling station official then guided him to a desk where he had his little finger inked.

"I'm glad to participate in this simulation, because I can learn how to cast my vote by using a template and touching the brailled numbers of the candidates," said Surya, who was the first to vote in the simulation.

"It will help me a lot in the July 8 election."

Surya was one of 25 participants of a poll simulation for visually challenged people, organized by the Mitra Netra Foundation and PPUA Penca (Election Committee for the Disabled) on Friday.

Mitra Netra Foundation executive director Bambang Basuki said the simulation was aimed at educating visually challenged voters on how to mark and cast their ballots.

Surya said he was confident about voting in the upcoming presidential poll, after having missed the chance to vote in April's legislative elections because he was not registered on the electoral roll.

The resident of Cijantung, East Jakarta, said he was also happy that he and other blind citizens would be allowed to vote in private, without assistance from polling station officials, thanks to a template that will allow them to mark the ballot by themselves.

At the start of the simulation, each voter received a ballot inserted into the template. The template has three triangular holes in it, each of which is placed over a photo of one of the three candidates on the ballot.

On the template, the candidates' numbers are printed in Braille, thus helping blind voters recognize their choice and mark it through the hole.

Asep Widi, a Depok resident, said he was thankful he could join the simulation, because there was no such campaign in his neighborhood prior to the April polls.

"I voted in the regional election last year and in the legislative elections in April, but I couldn't mark the ballot by myself, so it was not much of a luber election," he said, referring to the old election jargon for direct, general, free and confidential.

On voting day, blind voters will be led to polling booths by polling station officials, while carrying their ballots, but will then be left alone in the booth to mark their ballots.

Asep said the template was easy to use, but said it was a shame that blind voters would still need help inserting their ballots into the template to ensure it was in the right position, because there was no sign on the ballots that they could use as a guide.

"Therefore we need trustworthy polling officials to help," said the teacher from a school for the disabled in Depok.

Happy Sebayang, deputy chairman of PPUA Penca, said the group would ensure the General Elections Commission (KPU) distributed the template to all polling stations nationwide, unlike in the legislative elections, when the templates did not reach all polling stations.

There are around 3.6 million disabled voters - including the visually impaired - officially registered to vote in next week's presidential election, according to data from PPUA Penca.

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