Association of Caribbean Electoral Organizations
Excerpt from IFES 1998 Annual Report

The Founding General Assembly of the Association of Caribbean Electoral Organizations (ACEO), held March 30-April 1, 1998, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, brought together electoral authorities from around the Caribbean. To date, 19 electoral organizations have joined the Association.

Association members first addressed the issue of access to the electoral and political process for people with disabilities. Although inclusiveness is essential to a true democracy, election administrators rarely deal with this topic. And because of a variety of problems, people with disabilities are often prevented from voting or voting in secret.

Three main areas were discussed.

· Awareness: People with disabilities typically have low voter registration and voter turnout rates, and election officials often do not take the concerns of the disabled into consideration. Conference participants suggested raising electoral and governmental officials’ awareness of the concerns people with disabilities face, and conducting civic education campaigns that reach people with disabilities.

· Accessibility: Access to voter registration and polling sites is often a major problem for people with disabilities. Among the remedies discussed were selecting more accessible sites as well as adopting home- or hospital-based voting, curbside voting, and voting by mail.

· Secrecy: Election systems routinely ignore the right to a secret ballot for people with disabilities. Conference participants discussed some ways to ensure secrecy for all voters, such as accessible voting booths and Braille ballots or ballot guides.

The General Assembly unanimously adopted the San Juan Resolution committing ACEO members

"To work cooperatively with organizations of and for people with disabilities to remove the physical and attitudinal barriers which prevent people with disabilities from participating in the electoral process . . . [and] to design and conduct registration, outreach, and education campaigns which result in the greater participation in election systems of all people with disabilities."