Question reference: S6W-14043
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 18 January 2023
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Current status: Answered by George Adam on 26 January 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans to bring forward pilot schemes regarding accessibility in Scottish elections, and whether any such pilot schemes have taken place to date.
Answer
Improving the accessibility of elections is a key element of the Scottish Government’s electoral reform agenda. It is our ambition to remove or reduce barriers that some voters face and to improve the accessibility of elections.
We have been working with RNIB Scotland and the Forth Valley Sensory Centre over several months to consider potential solutions and technology to assist people with sight loss to cast their votes, including testing audio devices. RNIB Scotland will also shortly undertake testing of a tactile ballot paper solution at the Centre. We will then consider feedback from these initial trials of the tactile ballots papers and, working in collaboration with our partners in Local Government, electoral administrators and the Electoral Commission, produce proposals for next steps. I anticipate we should be in a position to report progress and set out future proposals and plans to Parliament in the summer.
In addition, as part of the Government’s current consultation on electoral reform we are asking for views on how the accessibility of elections could be improved and what changes might be made in law. The consultation closes on 15 March - available at https://consult.gov.scot/constitution-and-cabinet/electoral-reform/ . I look forward to reading the responses which will help inform our work going forward.