7282

1 March 2000

Mr Graeme Innes
Deputy Disability Discrimination Commissioner
Disability Rights Unit
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
GPO Box 5218

SYDNEY 1042

Dear Mr Innes

Thank you for the opportunity to provide a submission to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's inquiry into the accessibility of election procedures to people with disabilities.

The Electoral Commissioner is a statutory position appointed by the Governor in Council. The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) is the administrative agency through which the Electoral Commissioner's statutory obligations are carried out. The Electoral Commissioner's chief responsibility is to conduct Victorian Parliamentary elections. The Constitution Act Amendment Act 1958 defines the functions of the Electoral Commissioner and specific requirements for the conduct of elections.

A 1994 amendment to the Local Government Act 1989 provided the VEC with the opportunity to compete with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) or municipal Councils themselves to conduct municipal Council elections. Under the legislation, municipal Councils can choose to have their elections conducted either entirely by post, or by the traditional attendance method of voting.

The VEC is conducting 42 of the 53 Council elections taking place in March 2000.

The VEC must tender on a competitive basis to conduct Council elections on a cost-recovery basis. While the VEC has a range of election services available, it is the decision of individual Councils to choose which, if any, of the non-statutory services they will provide to their voters. The provision of services is often limited by the costs involved (only larger Melbourne metropolitan Councils can afford to pay for services for voters with special requirements). While there are economies of scale when a group of Councils request similar services, smaller Councils usually cannot justify spending on anything above a basic election service.

The VEC delivers a comprehensive voter information campaign at State elections comprising television, radio and print advertising. Television and radio advertising provides basic electoral messages and refers viewers/listeners to newspaper advertisements and the VEC's telephone enquiry service for further information. Newspaper advertising is more detailed, and the telephone enquiry service provides personal responses to individual inquiries from voters.

The language used in the VEC's advertisements has been pitched at lower secondary school level in recognition of the range of intellectual and educational standards of the voting public.

At the recent 1999 Victorian State election, the VEC's television advertisements included captioning to assist voters with hearing impairment, whereby the advertisement's script was translated to text and displayed at the bottom of the viewer's specially modified television screen.

The VEC commissioned Vision Australia Foundation to assist in providing information to voters with print disabilities. More than 6,200 audio cassettes were distributed by Vision Australia Foundation to Victorian voters. Of these, some 5,725 were distributed to individuals with print disabilities, with the remainder being distributed to blindness agencies and Vision Australia branches.

This was supported by a successful media campaign including media releases and campaigns on 3RPH (Radio Print Handicapped). Radio 3RPH conducted radio interviews regarding the service being offered to print handicapped voters.

Another source of information to print handicapped voters was the VEC's web site. The site contained detailed information about the election process and voting arrangements, and enabled voters to download enrolment forms postal vote applications. While the web site was designed for a general audience, Vision Australia found the site an excellent information source for print disabled voters who had made the usual adjustments to their computer monitors to enlarge and highlight textual information.

The VEC advertises Council election arrangements through newspapers and press releases, and on its web site.

Occasionally, a group of Councils may agree to fund shared television or radio advertising for their elections, but cost is usually prohibitive,

For the current March 2000 Council elections, the VEC is advertising the services it specifically provides to voters with print disabilities on radio 3RPH (Radio Print Handicapped).

The potential for the VEC to deliver more comprehensive information services to voters with disabilities at municipal Council elections is limited by the budgetary constraints of individual Councils, and the limited scope for economies of scale due to there only being certain Council elections being conducted each year, and the VEC conducting only some of the elections in any year.

The VEC is committed to providing the best electoral services possible to enable people with disabilities to vote. At the 1999 State election, 1,169 of the 1,608 polling places (73%) provided disabled access. The VEC identifies polling places with wheelchair access in its advertising.

The VEC also provides table-top screens at all polling places, and instructs its polling officials to assist disabled electors to vote in the polling place if requested.

Prior to the 1999 State election, the VEC conducted a review of its procedures in order to identify further ways to assist electors with disabilities to access the electoral process. As part of this review, the VEC consulted with a number of organisations representing disabled people in Victoria, including:

• ACROD (Victoria);
• Action Resource Network;
• Headway Victoria;
• National Federation of Blind Citizens;
• Paraplegic & Quadriplegic Association;
• RVRDA;
• Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disability (VALID); and
• Victorian Council of Deaf People Inc.

During the review, organisations raised matters of concern to their members and recommended practical solutions that the VEC could implement at the 1999 State election.

As a result, the VEC introduced voting compartments especially designed for wheelchair access, improved signage at polling places for people with sight disabilities, and instructed polling officials on how to assist people with hearing disabilities.

The review also resulted in the VEC recommending changes to electoral law to enable polling officials to assist disabled voters to vote outside the polling place. Parliament amended The Constitution Act Amendment Act 1958 to enable the changes, which took effect in June 1999. The VEC developed new procedures and advised prospective candidates and political parties of the changes prior to the election. All polling officials throughout Victoria were trained in the new procedures and the procedures were implemented at the 1999 State election.

The Electoral Commissioner has the power to appoint certain institutions as "special hospitals" for the purposes of enabling voters in those institutions to vote on the spot when a mobile polling team visits in the lead-up to a State election.

Prior to the 1999 State election, the VEC conducted a review of the election services provided to institutions that were appointed as special hospitals at the 1996 State election. As a result of the review, 431 special hospitals were appointed for the 1999 State election. This compares with 279 locations at the 1996 State election.

Voters who have permanent mobility problems or suffer from disabilities that prevent them from travelling to a polling place at election time are eligible for registration as general postal voters. By registering as general postal voters, these people automatically receive ballot papers in the mail for all State and Federal elections. There were 17,452 registered postal voters at the 1999 State election. This was a significantly greater number than at previous State elections (9,587 at the 1996 State election, and 9,042 at the 1992 State election).

Disabled voters who would not be able to vote at a polling place on election day were also able to vote by post by telephoning the VEC's telephone enquiry service and having a postal voting application form sent in the mail.

The practicability of providing polling place venues easily accessible to voters with mobility disabilities is limited by the fact that election venues are leased at very short notice from other authorities, and they are not designed for the VEC's purposes. (The timeframe for a Victorian State election is typically 25 days from calling the election until polling day.) While many schools used as polling places have disabled access, it is not always possible to supplement these with other types of venues with disabled access. As the election date is not known in advance, it is necessary to use venues that are available, even though they may be less suitable.

For postal elections, voters receive ballot materials through the mail. The VEC has recently collaborated with Vision Australia to advertise assistance available to voters with print disabilities. These voters can call the VEC and be referred to Vision Australia if they would like someone to read to them the statements of all the candidates in their ward or riding. Alternatively they can be referred to the VEC's returning officers for personal assistance at home in completing ballot papers (if the staffing resources are available and if this is practicable).

For attendance elections the same services are provided at polling places as described for voting at polling places at State elections, and the issue relating to the availability of venues with disabled access is also relevant.

The VEC has made considerable gains in providing information and voting services to people with disabilities. Specific services for voters with vision impairment, and assistance available at polling places to voters with literacy and cognitive disabilities are outlined above.

The ability to provide alternative ballot papers for those with print disabilities is limited by the timeframe of State and Council elections, whereby ballot papers must be printed and available immediately following the close of nominations. The difficulty is compounded at State elections, in that voters must be able to vote in advance for any electorate at any of the VEC's 54 returning officer's offices throughout the State.

The VEC has received no complaints about this matter.

The VEC has been pro-active in providing services to voters with disabilities. It has received very few complaints about access to disabled voters, and considerable unsolicited appreciation for its efforts.

Within the limits of practicability, the VEC is committed to continuing to improve access to voters with disabilities.

I trust that this information is of assistance.

Yours sincerely

Doug Beecroft

Manager

Public Information and Corporate Services