Global Courant 2023-05-31 07:21:46
The magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) received this Tuesday, May 30, 23 Perkins machines for printing ballots with the Braille reading and writing system that will be used in the general elections on Sunday, June 25.
These ballots will allow people with visual disabilities who are registered to vote.
The delivery of the ballots was in charge of the board of directors of the Benemérito Pro-Blind and Deaf Committee, which has collaborated with the TSE to facilitate ballots in Braille since 1990, and took place at the facilities of the Operational Center of the Electoral Process (Cope). , in the Industry Park.
The TSE calculates that it will print at least 375,000 ballots in Braille, which will be distributed in all voting centers nationwide.
Each table will have 15 of these ballots, whose preparation is in charge of 23 members of the Pro-Blind and Deaf Committee, which the electoral entity hired.
According to the 2018 census, 10.38% of the Guatemalan population, some 1.4 million inhabitants, have some kind of disability.
Gloria López, electoral director of the TSE, reported that since 1990 the TSE has been concerned with adopting inclusive measures and facilitating access to vote for people with visual disabilities.
He added that before each polling station was provided with three ballots with the Braille system, but now there will be 15 ballots of this type at each table.
He explained that the initials of the political party are placed in each square or box of the ballot, this so that the visually impaired voter can read and decide who to vote for.
Marielos de Rueda, from the Committee for the Blind and Deaf, reiterated the support they have provided for more than 30 years to the electoral processes in Guatemala.
He said that to strengthen democracy it is necessary to work on inclusion and that this encompasses the electoral processes.
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He added that people with disabilities have increased as a result of degenerative diseases, including diabetes, as well as violence, infectious diseases and malnutrition.
