What Eligible Voters with Visual Disabilities Experience in Public Official Elections in South Korea: Violation of Secret Ballot and Unusable Voting Aid

Abstract

Background This study aims to empirically analyze what experiences eligible voters with visual disabilities have in South Korean public official elections. The study investigates the discriminatory factors that cause them an unequal voting experience for the ultimate goal of ‘Universal Design for New Voting Experience.’ This study starts from the awareness that all public services are guaranteed the right to vote for people with visual disabilities, which should be designed in a way that guarantees them an equal voting experience with the non-disabled. Methods Three stages of social research were conducted to collect empirical data on the voting experience of people with visual disabilities. In the first stage, the general manager of the Gimhae Chapter of the Gyeongnam Welfare Association for the Blind was interviewed in depth. In the second stage, a face-to-face survey was conducted on 60 people with visual disabilities living in Gimhae using structured questionnaires. In the third stage, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 of the visually disabled who had participated in the second survey, and questions were asked in more detail, focusing on the problems newly discovered in the second survey. Results As a result of the analysis, the most discriminatory and serious problem found in the voting experience of the visually disabled is that many of them, unlike people without visual disabilities, vote in an environment where the secret ballot has been violated. This special situation is caused by the following two reasons. The first reason is the unconstitutionality of Article 157(6), The Public Official Election Act, guarantees the right to vote for the visually disabled in a way that waives the guarantee of the right to vote in secret. The second is the impracticality of the current braille-type voting aid, which many visually disabled people avoid using. Conclusions This study proposes three principles of solutions and public service design guidelines as a conclusion. First, measures to guarantee the right to vote for people with visual disabilities should be devised on the premise that the secret ballot guaranteed by the Constitution is absolutely and preferentially observed. Second, the usability of the voting aid should be improved to the extent that it can guarantee the independent voting of the visually disabled. Third, all tools for voting convenience of the visually disabled should be developed in consideration of not only the degree of disability but also the deviation of braille reading comprehension from the perspective of universal design