General Right to Vote
Constitution:
(1980, updated as of 1996)
• Article 59 states, "Subject to the provisions of article 159, every person may vote at an election if he is of the age of eighteen years or upwards and is either a citizen of Guyana or a Commonwealth citizen domiciled and resident in Guyana."

Exclusion Based on Mental Disability
Constitution:
(1980, updated as of 1996)
• Article 155 section (1) states: "No person shall be qualified for election as a member of the National Assembly who…(b) is a person certified to be insane or otherwise adjudged to be of unsound mind under any law in force in Guyana."
• Article 159 section (3) states: "No person shall be qualified to be so registered who on the qualifying date is a person certified to be insane or otherwise adjudged to be of unsound mind under any law in force in Guyana."

Exclusion Based on Physical Disability
Constitution:
(1980, updated as of 1996)
• Article 53 states: "Subject to Article 155 (which relates to allegiance, insanity, and other matters) a person shall be qualified for election as a member of the National Assembly if, and shall not be so qualified unless, he…(b) is able to speak and, unless incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause, to read the English language with a degree of proficiency sufficient to enable him to take an active part in the proceedings of the Assembly."

Voter Assistance by Other Citizens
Electoral Law:
(1975: Representation of the People)
• Section 73, subsection (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 section 72 and who takes an oath in Form 21, mark the ballot paper of such elector in his presence and in the manner directed by him."
• Section 73, subsection (2) states: "The presiding officer may, at the request of any elector who is incapacitated in the manner prescribed in subsection (1) and who has taken the oath in Form 22, and is accompanied by a friend, permit such friend, if he is an elector entitled to vote at the polling place, immediately after he has voted on his own behalf, and notwithstanding that his finger has been immersed in electoral ink, to accompany the elector into the voting compartment and mark his ballot for him: Provided that no person may mark the ballot paper of more than one elector as his friend…"
• Section 73, subsection (3) states "whenever any voter has had his ballot paper marked in accordance with this section, the poll clerk shall enter into the poll book opposite the name of the elector the fact that the ballot paper was so marked, the reason therefore and, if marked by a friend, the name and the number in the official list of electors of that friend."
Poll Worker Manuals:
General and Regional Elections: Instructions for the Polling Place Officials
• "A blind or incapacitated voter may have his ballot papers marked for him by either the presiding officer or a friend who accompanies him" p 8
Presiding Officers, Assistant Presiding Officers, Poll Clerks and Country Assistants (1992)
• The voter and assistant must take oath upon voting p 27

Off-Site Voting Alternatives
Electoral Law:
(1975: Representation of the People)
• Section 27 subsection (3) states: "Every elector who votes at an election shall, subject to the provisions of this Act relating to voting by proxy and to the marking of ballot papers on behalf of blind and incapacitated electors, vote at a polling place in person."
• Section 30 subsection (1) states: "The following electors shall be entitled to vote by proxy at an election…(c) those unable, or likely to be unable, by reason either of blindness or any other physical incapacity, to go in person to the polling place or, if able to go, to vote unaided."
Poll Worker Manuals:
Presiding Officers, Assistant Presiding Officers, Poll Clerks and Country Assistants (1992)
• Included in list of electors entitled to vote by Proxy are "those unable by reason of blindness or other physical incapacity to go in person to the polling pace or to vote unaided." P 19