"Vote Hard" for visually impaired people in Bulgaria

People with motor and visual disabilities in Bulgaria face numerous difficulties in moving around and in their daily lives. But apart from purely physical obstacles, there are also obstacles at the level of access to information and administrative services. Even on election day, when all citizens are encouraged to come out and vote, people with disabilities are faced with unsuspected obstacles. Therefore, having gained experience, they often prefer to stay at home rather than face the heartlessness of administrative regulations. And if there is still some solution for people with motor difficulties and people in wheelchairs to be alone without a companion at the voting process, then for people with visual impairments, voting without an assistant is unthinkable.‎

The practice in Bulgaria has been the same for years. In most cases, an attendant enters the polling station with the visually impaired person, who fills out the ballot instead. However, this deprives the blind person of the secret of the vote. The visually impaired person needs to rely on the fact that their companion will fill in the square they chose. This situation inevitably puts them in a position of dependency. A legitimate companion is limited by law and can provide assistance to only two persons, for which the companion is issued the necessary certificate. For this purpose, before the date of the vote, the blind person submits an application to the district or the town hall at their permanent address - thus, information about the companion must also reach the election commission. If at the last moment a change with another legitimate companion is necessary, this automatically deprives the blind person of the right to vote. ‎

There is also an option for voting with a mobile polling station, and a copy of the certificate for a serious medical condition (TELK) is also attached to the previously submitted application for this. Home visits are carried out by members of the election commissions, who must ensure the secrecy of the vote. ‎

A short-term solution to the problem of blind voters was found in the parliamentary elections in 2005 at the initiative of the National Association of Students and Youth with Disabilities and one of the political parties. Then templates with holes were made, which were placed on the paper ballot. Thus, the person with impaired vision can find their way around the search for the number of a given party or candidate and apply the necessary sign with a pen himself. "Due to reasons we can only guess, this practice was not applied in the next elections," the organization of people with visual impairments said.‎

Only online voting would ensure the secrecy of the vote of the blind, as well as encourage them to participate actively and equally in the electoral process. As long as, of course, it is done in a way that is accessible to them. Until then, the blind have to rely on the assistance of trusted assistants or wait for better times.‎

"A universal way of voting should be found, so that all people with disabilities, and not only, can exercise their right to vote", says Evgeni Mitev from the Synergia Foundation, which directs attention to the problems of the blind in Bulgaria. "But like everything else in Bulgaria, this change will happen after a long time, and there are also simple solutions that, with good will, could do a very good job," Mr. Mitev ‎argues.

On International White Cane Day, a blindfolded walk through the streets of Sofia is organised to raise awareness

And if for most people the next election is something like a Sunday walk around the city to meet friends, then for the people with a white cane, the election is yet another limitation of their rights and yet another occasion that arouses deep indignation in them.

"Mainly from the Internet, TV and radio, I get informed about the messages of politicians. In general, I follow the political parties and what they want to tell us, but I see that there is no debate about anything, and the problems are many and do not affect only us, people with disabilities," shared Valcho Panayotov. He is a person with impaired vision of working age and with an active civic position from Sofia: ‎

"What worries me is the inaccessible environment. It's quite a big problem because you can't always do things on your own, even sometimes because of the lack of technology for the blind in our conditions, you have a hard time even preparing a cup of coffee at home.”‎

Tales in the Dark

People like Valcho Panayotov want change and believe that it will happen if citizens are active and go out to vote, "but we also need a permanent government, because I remember very well that from 2021 onwards we only go to elections, and that doesn't change anything and doesn't solve the problems. I don't know about others, but I'm thinking a lot about whether I'll go out to vote in these elections," says the blind man from Sofia and continues:

"The reason I don't want to vote is, first of all, because I need an escort to the polling station. But I increasingly encounter obstacles from the members of the election commissions. In June, when there were early elections again, they refused to let me I vote. It turned out that the companion needs a certificate for the specific person he is accompanying. This condition is so limiting that we ourselves refuse to vote. The second problem is that my vote is not secret. I have to tell the attendant who I want to vote for, so he fills in the boxes on the ballot. This means that I have to meet an attendant with the same political views as mine. If we are from different parties, how can I be sure that he or she will respect my choice? When they introduced the machine vote, I believed that something could change for us. But it did not happen, and especially through the machines, the blind people can also be helped to vote it could be done either with speaking software, so that with headphones instructions can be given to the blind, or a digital keyboard can be placed, with which the blind can vote according to the number of the chosen party. You enter the chosen number and vote, very simple, but it still does not happen."

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Photos: Pixabay, BTA, Mila Mladenova - BNR, Kristina Ruseva - BNR's Stara Zagora, personal archive of Valcho Panayotov

English publication by Rositsa Petkova