[acbny-l] Fw: blind to cast own vote in south africa
- From: "Frank Casey" <frcasey@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "acbny acbny" <acbny-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 16:29:02 -0400
Greetings,
As we, as blind voters in the United States, fight for our rights to vote,
here's an interesting piece of news.
Best regards,
Frank Casey
frcasey@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Blind to cast own vote
>
> Cape Town - Thousands of South Africans who are visually impaired will be
> able to vote without assistance in next year's elections.
>
> A plastic cover will be placed over ballot papers for visually impaired
> voters.
>
> Each party's name has been embossed in braille on the cover and has a
window
> on the right, where voters can make a cross.
>
> The We-Shop was asked for assistance with the design of the ballot paper.
> It's a non-profit organisation and one of the main projects of the Golden
> Arrow
> foundation.
>
> It's the first successful braille template for voting purposes in the
> country.
>
> Marlene le Roux, chairperson of the Golden Arrow foundation, says "the
> ballot paper must now just become a reality".
>
> Willy Matthys, founder director of the project, says: "Visually
handicapped
> people had no guarantee in the past that their wishes had been carried
out."
>
> Matthys says the ballot paper was designed in 1994, but the Independent
> Electoral Commission acknowledged it only in 1999. It was used in that
> election,
> but on a trial basis only and wasn't available throughout the country.
>
> Statistics obtained in 1999 showed that 1.1 million South Africans are
> visually impaired.
>
> Matthys says it will be "very cheap" to print the special ballot papers.
>
> Discussion For
>
>
>
>
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