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Accessible Election Information: Independent Voting Experience

Learn how the Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired partnered with the Ministry of Justice to provide audio, Daisy, and Braille election information, making the voting experience independent and accessible.

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Accessible Election Information: Independent Voting Experience

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  1. Accessible election information"The voting experience should be independent from beginning to end" Maria Finström, Organization Secretary, FFVI Zero Project Conference 2015 25.-27.2.2015, Vienna, Austria

  2. Overview • Problem: No accessible election information before 2011 • Solution: Cooperation between the Ministry of Justice in Finland and the Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired (FFVI) • Implementation: Production and distribution of election information in audio/Daisy and Braille • Funding: Ministry of Justice (production), Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (distribution) • Based on: Agreement (but indirectly supported by the Non-Discrimination Act and the UN Convention)

  3. What was done? • The produced material included: • Candidate lists from all electoral districts in Finland • Information on advance voting and polling stations (contact information, opening hours) • General information about elections • The practice has been applied four times: 2011 (parliamentary), 2012 (presidential), 2012 (municipal), 2014 (European parliament) • Figures: • Finnish parliamentary elections, 2011: 2315 candidates • Finnish municipal elections, 2012: 37 124 candidates • Elections for the European parliament, 2014: 251 candidates

  4. Target group and costs • Target group: approx. 14 000 persons • Approx. 250 Braille users (Braille delivered only on demand due to high production costs) • For example, the costs for producing material for parliamentary elections is approx. 15 000 euros (includes production costs)

  5. Challenges • The schedule is very strict: information is available only a month prior to the election → strict requirements on the production units! • The practice is based on agreement and good contacts, rather than law → vulnerable? • The election system in Finland is based on proportional representation (d'Hondt method) → difficult to replicate in different election systems?

  6. Positive aspects • Users have given only positive feedback → the service is requested and awaited • The possibility to check the candidate lists independently, without assistance • The method is very straightforward and cost-efficient Thank you!

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