CCLA urges Elections Ontario to move promptly on accessible voting

The CCLA is concerned about difficulties that voters with disabilities have had in exercising their basic civil right to vote in elections.  New legislation recently passed by the government of Ontario takes some steps to ensure voting accessibility, but does not go far enough to ensure that Ontarians with disabilities will have barrier-free access to polling stations, and will be able to vote and independently verify their ballot in the next provincial election.  The legislation gives Elections Ontario time to study accessible voting technologies and also requires that polling station locations be announced six months in advance of an election.  Unfortunately, the new law does not require Elections Ontario to re-locate any stations where accessibility issues are identified in advance. The legislation bans the use of any voting technology that is connected to a network, thus prohibiting the use of internet and phone voting at the provincial level, despite the fact that some Ontario municipalities have already experimented successfully with some of these technologies.  The CCLA has urged Elections Ontario to move promptly in studying accessible voting technologies and will be monitoring its progress.  Read the CCLA’s letter to Elections Ontario. Read a Word version of the letter here.