Political Access for People with Disabilities
Briefing Paper Series

DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTION MONITORING METHODS
TO PROMOTE ELECTORAL ACCESS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Dominican Republic Case Study
Volume I, Paper 1
July 5, 2000

Background on IFES Disability Programming

In December 1999, IFES received funding from the Foreign Ministry of Finland to undertake a 30-month program to promote the access to political processes by people with disabilities.

The project's activities are organized into three pillars: information resources, processing monitoring, and technical assistance. Under the first pillar, IFES is conducting a global research initiative of a country-by-country review of constitutions, election laws, and other written materials to determine the extent to which these laws and practices promote or deter the full electoral or political participation of people with disabilities.

Under the second pillar, IFES is developing methodologies for standardized approaches to monitoring political access and partnerships with local disability organizations for political process monitoring capacity building.

And, under the third pillar, IFES is organizing technical assistance projects with local disability organizations, election authorities, parliaments, and the media to promote access to the political process by people with disabilities

In the Spring of 2000, the IFES was awarded a contract from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to organize and lead an international mission to observe the May 16 Presidential Elections in the Dominican Republic.

IFES President Richard Soudriette agreed that this would present an ideal setting to integrate disability issues fully into an international election observation mission. Using funds provided by the Finnish Foreign Ministry, in addition to funds provided under the broader USAID grant, IFES organized and implemented what is believed to be the first international election observation mission in which disability issues were fully integrated.

IFES fielded a team of twenty international observers. Two of these twenty - ten percent of the IFES team - were internationally recognized experts in disability issues.

IFES was particularly fortunate to have as part of its international observation team Mr. Roberto Leal Ocampo, the Director General of the Central American and Caribbean Confederation of Parents and Friends of Persons with Disabilities. Mr. Leal is a lawyer from Nicaragua and the parent of a child with mental disability. He previously served as Nicaragua's ambassador to Panama, Costa Rica, and Venezuela. In recruiting Mr. Leal as a member of the observation mission, IFES was greatly influenced by his long-standing involvement in advocating for the rights of people with intellectual disability, the largest but often most neglected segment of the disabled population, and the segment least likely to enjoy the full rights of citizenship.

Also serving on IFES' team of observers was Mr. Jerome Mindes. Mr. Mindes serves as IFES' disability consultant, and is also the Coordinator of the International Working Group on Disability and Development.

Other members of the IFES team included the former director of elections in Nicaragua; the current director of elections in Jamaica; a former director of the OAS Unit for the Promotion of Democracy; the Vice Chairman of the US Federal Election Commission; the US Agency for International Development's Deputy Assistant Administrator for Latin America; the former US Ambassador to both Panama and Columbia; and among others, a senior associate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC.

Prior to Election Day, the IFES observation team met with, and was briefed by, a panel of disability experts from the Dominican Republic. This team included:

· Mary Maranzini, Directora Ejexutiva, Asociacion Dominicana de Rehabilitacion;

· Téofilo Alarcón, Presidente, Federation Nacional de Dominicanos Discapacitados;

· José Manual Paulino, Presidente, Fundacion de Ciegos;

· Rosa Peña Paula, CONAPREM, (Consejo Nacional para law Prevencion, rehabilitacion, Educacion e Integracion Social de la Personals con Minusvalia)

· Gloria Hernandez, Presidente, Inclusion Interamericana - Afiliado Dominicano;

These individuals represented organizations of citizens of the Dominican Republic with physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities, and visual impairments. Each of these organizations is the local affiliate of global organizations (Disabled Peoples' International, Inclusion International, Rehabilitation International, and the World Blind Union) represented on the United Nations Panel of Experts on Disability. It was the first time any of these groups was involved in any effort to prepare international or domestic election observers.

The representatives of these groups discussed how Dominican Republic election law and practices affect or involve citizens with disabilities, and provided the international observers with a framework for observing the upcoming elections through the eyes of citizens with a disability. This framework included paying greater attention to issues such as the physical access of polling places, the secrecy of the ballot for disabled voters, and whether any other accommodations were made regarding voter information or voting procedures.

The international observers were also briefed on the international standards and resolutions calling for the full participation of citizens with disabilities, and were provided with an Election Day checklist on disability access and accommodation issues.

Also in the days leading up to the election, the entire IFES observation team met with representatives of domestic observation groups, political party representatives, and representatives of the Central Election Commission of the Dominican Republic. At each of these briefings, IFES team members had opportunities to raise awareness and discuss issues concerning voting access for citizens with disabilities.

On Election Day, the twenty person IFES observation mission was divided into ten observation groups. The ten groups were dispersed throughout the major cities and regions of the Dominican Republic, with each group responsible for observing between 20 and 30 electoral precincts. In all, the IFES team members witnessed voting by an estimated 60,000 citizens.

Following the election, each team provided an oral report on their observations of voters with disabilities. It is important to note that voters in the Dominican Republic must stand in long lines for hours on Election Day in order to register and then to vote. Therefore, international observers can see virtually all of a precinct's voters in one short period of time, thus enabling an observation mission to make fairly accurate - though non-scientific - assessments of the demographic composition of the voting public at specific precincts.

Pre-Election Day Observations

1) In the period leading up to the elections, all potential voters were required to obtain a voter identification card. To obtain this "picture ID," eligible voters had to physically go to their local Election Commission or to another pre-determined location. No accommodations were made for homebound or hospitalized voters, or for voters with disabilities or other mobility limitations. If a citizen was not able to obtain an ID card, they were not eligible to vote. This requirement created a physical barrier for many potential voters with mobility impairments, effectively removing them from the electoral process, according to discussions with disability leaders in the Dominican Republic, and according to individual interviews with a small number of disabled citizens.

2) No voter registration or voter education efforts were targeted toward citizens with disabilities.

Election Day Observations

1) In a population of 60,000 people (those observed voting), the IFES team observed no more than 150 to 200 voters with physical disabilities. This is less than one half of one percent of the observed voting population.

2) No one with a severe, permanent mobility impairment was observed voting. This means that no person with quadriplegia was observed voting, and no person was observed voting who required assistance in using a wheelchair for mobility. The only wheelchair users observed were those voters with temporary disabilities, such as broken legs.

3) No young or middle-aged adults who are blind or deaf were observed voting.

4) The small number of elderly blind individuals observed voting marked their ballots with the assistance of a family member or friend, or simply had instructed their family member or friend to mark the ballot on their behalf. Individuals voting in this manner were denied the right to a secret ballot.

5) No one with obvious intellectual disability (down syndrome, for example) was observed voting, or even observed at or near any of the polling stations. Similarly, no one with a visible developmental disability (such as cerebral palsy) was observed voting.

6) The single largest categories of voters with disabilities were women and men who were elderly, and who were experiencing mobility limitations due to their advanced years. Almost all of these individuals, however, were capable of walking to the voting table, and had the stamina to stand in line for hours.

7) The second largest category of disabled voters appeared to be men who were missing one lower limb, and who were self-ambulatory with the use of crutches.

8) Those elderly or temporarily disabled voters the observers saw were in general individuals who seemed to have enjoyed active lives in which citizen participation and voting has been a long-standing practice.

9) No provisions were made for absentee voting, or for voting for those citizens who were homebound or hospitalized on Election Day. All voters were required to physically vote at their designated polling station.

10) Polling stations were primarily on the first floor of public building such as schools and hospitals, although most required the climbing of steps to reach the main level where the voting process took place. Observers noted two voting stations - one each in the cities of Higuey and Santiago - which were situated on the second story of two story buildings. When polling station accessibility was achieved, it was done so only as a result of chance.

11) Election precinct officials, and voters in general, seemed aware that the elderly, pregnant women, and people with disabilities could go to the front of the long registration and voting lines. However, even these voters were often required to wait for several hours, as they first had to complete the registration process, and then wait for all others to be registered before they could stand in the front of the line for voting. Consolidating the Election Day registration and voting processes for all voters would be of assistance to the many voters with permanent or temporary physical limitations.

12) For voters with visual impairments, no special accommodations were provided to allow blind citizens to vote in secret. All voters were required to mark a paper ballot. No Braille ballots or ballot guides were provided.

Post-Election Day Activities

Following Election Day, the IFES team of international observers held a private meeting with the President of the Dominican Republic Central Election Commission. IFES observers also participated in two post-election press conferences. At all of these meetings and media events, the IFES team incorporated into their comments and concerns observations about the experiences of voters with disabilities. Representing these concerns was IFES observer Roberto Leal Ocampo. Mr. Leal spoke about disability issues with the President of the Dominican Republic's Central Election Commission, spoke on Dominican television about the experiences of voters with disabilities, and was interviewed by Dominican and international media (television and newspaper) about his participation in the observation mission.

As a result of the IFES mission, representatives of several key Dominican agencies and organizations have expressed an interest in working with IFES to incorporate the concerns of voters with disabilities in future elections in the Dominican Republic. Among these organizations are the Dominican Republic Central Election Commission, Participacion Ciudidana (the domestic observer organization), Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra (the leading university of the Dominican Republic), Federation Nacional de Dominicanon Discapacitados (the Dominican affiliate of Disabled Peoples' International), Asociacion Dominicana de Rehabilitacion (the Dominican affiliate of Rehabilitation International), the Dominican affiliate of Inclusion International, and Fundacion de Ciegos (the Dominican association of persons who are blind).

Under the Finnish grant, IFES is preparing to convene a one-day session among representatives of the above mentioned organizations for the purpose of strengthening the alliance between the Central Election Commission of the Dominican Republic and local organizations involving people with disabilities. This session will result in the identification of those steps that can be taken to promote greater participation of people with disabilities in future elections.

Jeff Fischer
Senior Advisor

Jerry Mindes
Disability Consultant

IFES