FEAPS campaigned for accessible elections

Last month, Spain had elections. Before the elections, Inclusion Europe’s member in Spain, FEAPS, did a campaign called „Every vote counts!“. This campaign was to help people with intellectual disabilities to vote. The campaign was also to tell other people how important it is to make sure that people with intellectual disabilities can vote as anyone else.

In the run-up to the general elections held in Spain last month, the national intellectual disability organisation FEAPS, a member of Inclusion Europe, had carried out a campaign entitled "Mi voto cuenta" (My vote counts) to claim the right of persons with intellectual disabilities to vote. The objective of the campaign was to raise awareness among people with intellectual disabilities and in the society as a whole, on the need to ensure their right to vote, in line with the Article 29 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The campaign points out the extent to which the right of people with intellectual disabilities is violated, either because they are denied this right or due to the fact that elections and electoral information is not accessible to them.

The campaign was disseminated through Social Media, namely Twitter and Facebook and the website www.mivotocuenta.es. The website included easy-to-read documents explaining voting procedure and the main points of each party’s electoral program. Furthermore, the website offered its visitors different ways of demanding this right to participate in elections.

In addition, FEAPS organised a meeting with members of the main political parties, which served their self-advocates as an opportunity to explain why it is important to make their electoral programs accessible.

Since the launch of the campaign on 11 November until its end on 23 November, the campaign’s website and social media channels attracted visitors not only from Spain, but also from Mexico, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Russia, Argentina, Italiy, Germany, Switzerland, Venezuela, Uruguay, Portugal, Paraguay, Chile, Denmark, Ireland as well as Hong Kong and other countries. On Facebook and Twitter, it has been reported that the campaign was disseminated in 12 languages. At the same time, the campaign has captured attention of the mainstream media, including TV, radio and press.

Inclusion Europe congratulates FEAPS on this important and well-managed initiative. It is very encouraging that elections in more and more European countries are accompanied by campaigns advocating for accessible elections for all.

For more good practices on improving the accessibility of elections, please, consult the website www.voting-for-all.eu, which was created within the framework of the project Accommodating Diversity for Active Participation in European Elections (ADAP), finalised by Inclusion Europe and its members in June 2011. The website further contains policy recommendations and an easy-to-read guide on campaigning for accessible elections.