Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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1260. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will consider allowing those with impaired vision to cast their ballots either by telephone or electronically in view of the fact that negative experiences with electronic voting cannot be allowed to prevent persons living with sight loss from exercising their right to a secret ballot; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4590/20]

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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In January 2015, the National Disability Authority published a report on Voting Trials for Voters with Sight Loss. The Authority noted that the results of the trials did not produce a clear recommendation for a secure voting method that is likely to meet the needs of most voters with sight loss. However, the Authority recommended that ballot paper templates (BPTs) be trialled at a future referendum where voters have a simple ‘yes/no’ choice, and that the results be monitored and evaluated.

Good progress has been made in recent years to enable visually impaired voters to vote in secret. BPTs have been brought into use to enable people with a visual impairment to vote in secret, removing the need for a companion or the presiding officer to assist them. BPTs were used successfully for the first time at the referendum held in May 2018. The rollout of the BPT was continued at the Presidential election held in October 2018, the European Parliament and local elections held in May 2019 and the General Election held in February 2020. A BPT is attached to a ballot paper and it consists of raised numbering and corresponding braille to assist the voter in identifying the openings on the template that correspond to the voter preference boxes for the candidates on the ballot paper. It operates in conjunction with a ‘freephone 1800’ number. Based on the interaction between the tactile features of the template and the information provided on the ‘freephone’ number, the voter can mark the ballot paper with their voting preferences (1, 2, 3 etc.). The candidate information on the ‘freephone’ number can be accessed as often as required in advance of polling day and again on polling day at the polling station with a mobile phone, if required. Another option open to voters with the relevant screen reading technology (e.g. on their phones, tablets or laptops) is to familiarise themselves with the candidates in a particular constituency or local electoral area by accessing the relevant ‘Notice of Poll’ or ‘candidate details’ section on the relevant website.

In December 2018, I established a Working Group on Voting Accessibility which includes representation from the National Disability Authority, the Disability Federation of Ireland, the Irish Wheelchair Association, the National Council for the Blind and the Blind Legal Alliance. The Working Group is examining feedback on the use of the BPTs at recent electoral events and this is assisting in the development of improvements for people who may wish to use the BPT when voting.

While electoral law is kept under review, I have no plans at present to amend the law to provide for voting by telephone or electronic means.