Access For Disabled Voters To The General Election 2005

EDM number 656 in 2005-06, proposed by Anne Begg on 21/07/2005.

That this House welcomes Scope's recent Polls Apart campaign, supported by Capability Scotland and Disability Action Northern Ireland, focusing on access for disabled voters to the General Election 2005; is very concerned at its findings that reveal that 68 per cent. of polling stations and 63 per cent. of postal voting systems were inaccessible to disabled people; notes that disabled people's legal rights under the Representation of the People Act 2000 and Disability Discrimination Act 1995 are not being property enforced; further notes that the electoral system still excludes many disabled people and denies them their basic right to a secret ballot; regrets that there will be no e-voting pilots run this year to expand the voting options available to disabled people; and calls on the Government to enforce disabled people's existing legal rights and continue to develop and pilot fully accessible e-voting systems with a view to rolling out multi-channel voting nationwide within the next five years.

This motion has been signed by a total of 57 MPs.