General Right to Vote
Electoral Law:
(15 January 1992)
• See section 8, subsection (1)

Exclusion Based on Mental Disability
Constitution:
(19 February 1973)
• Article 42, section (1) disqualifies from appointments as Senators any person who "…(f) is a person certified to be insane or otherwise adjudged to be of unsound mind under any law in force in the Bahamas."
• Article 48, section (1) disqualifies from membership in the House of Assembly any person who "…(e) is a person certified to be insane or otherwise adjudged to be of unsound mind under any law in force in the Bahamas."
Electoral Law:
(15 January 1992)
• Section 8, subsection (3) states, "For the purposes of this Act, a person who is a patient in any establishment maintained wholly or mainly for the care of persons suffering from mental illness or mental defectiveness, or who is detained in legal custody at any place, shall not by reason thereof be treated as a resident there."
• Under section 10 "Legal incapacities of voters," subsection (2), "a person shall be deemed to be suffering from a legal incapacity and shall not be entitled to apply for registration as a voter in any constituency or to vote at any election (whether registered as a voter or not) - …(b) while he is deemed to be a lunatic or of unsound mind by virtue of any finding or declaration under any Act…"

Voter Assistance by Other Citizens
Electoral Law:
(15 January 1992)
• Article 63 concerns voting by "incapacitated persons." Section (1) states "the presiding officer, on the application of any voter who is incapacitated by blindness or any other physical cause from voting in the manner prescribed by this act and who takes and subscribes an oath…in form O…and is accompanied by a friend, shall permit such friend to accompany the incapacitated voter into one of the compartments in the polling place and mark such voter's ballot for him, but no person shall…be allowed to act as the friend of more than one incapacitated voter."
• Sections (2), (3) and (4) of the abovementioned Article 63 deal respectively with the oath of the "friend," a list of incapacitated persons kept by the presiding officer, and a statement that any "friend" who breaches their oath "shall be guilty of an offence against this Act."
• Included are Form O "Form of Oath to be taken by Incapacitated Voter" and Form P "Form of Oath to be taken by Friend of Incapacitated Voter"
• Included in list of equipment and personnel for a polling place are three forms pertaining to people with disabilities: an oath to be taken by "challenged voters", an oath to be taken by a blind or incapacitated voter, and an oath to be taken by a friend of an incapacitated voter. p 2

Promotes Access
Poll Worker Manuals:
Aids to Returning Officers, Presiding Officers and Poll Clerks in Holding Elections (1992)
• Included in the list of articles to be present at the polling station is the "disabled list", referring to the list of voters who are disabled in some way. p 3

Indelible Ink Excusal
Electoral Law:
(15 January 1992)
• Under Article 59 "Voting procedure," the normal procedure includes marking the right thumb of the voter with indelible ink. However, subsection (d) of section (1) states that "if the person has no right hand thumb or if for any other reason it is…not practical to mark that thumb, the thumb of the left hand or such other finger as the presiding officer shall direct shall be so marked or if…it is not practicable to mark any finger of the person, that person shall be marked in such a way as the presiding officer considers sufficient to indicate that a ballot has been issued to that person."
• Section (4) of the abovementioned Article 59 states that "where the appropriate finder or any other finger which any voter may be required to immerse in electoral ink is concealed or covered with any bandage or other material, the presiding officer shall refuse to give to the voter any ballet paper unless the voter either (a) removes such bandage…or…(2) satisfies the presiding officer that he is suffering from injury to such appropriate or other finger takes an oath to that effect in the prescribed form and makes one or more impressions in ink on that form, as follows (i) with his right thumb; (ii) with his left thumb, should he not have a right thumb; or (iii) with any other finger, should he not have any thumb."