An amendment bill to the Elections General Act has been proposed to allow visually impaired persons to cast ballots themselves without assistance.
The amendment bill was proposed by Parliamentarian Jeehan Mahmood after the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Gender held a meeting with the Blind and Visually Impaired Society of the Maldives to discuss protecting ballots cast by persons with visual impairments.
The bill proposes solutions to allow visually impaired persons to cast their votes by themselves to maintain secrecy. It proposes solutions such as placing a plastic template sheet over the ballot with boxes cut out to make it easier for visually impaired persons to cast their vote.
The bill further states that the Elections Commission of the Maldives (ECM) will be responsible for formulating policies on using the plastic template for the ballots. Visually impaired persons who wish to cast their vote by themselves will be given the ballot with the plastic template and they will be required to cast their vote and fold the ballot before placing it into the box.