Denmark Strips Away the Right to Privacy from Blind Voters

On Wednesday I read that one of my blind friend's in Utah just experience voting by himself for the first time thanks to his voting machine having built in text to speech. On that same day, I also read that the blind in Denmark not only don't get to vote by themselves, they have to have a council member present when they're voting. This rule was supposedly implemented to make sure that the sighted helper wasn't pressuring the blind voter to vote in a particular way, but what it really does is just strip that voter of their right to privacy.

It is important to note that this rule is both a violation of the Denmark Constitution and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. No one, disabled or not should ever have to reveal who their voting for. I am sure that this will only prevent more people from voting rather then encourage them to.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Solving the voting issue for those with visual impairments is not difficult. I've voted three times now using a simple solution called an electronic ballot. The html based ballot is emailed to me. I then fill it out on my computer on my own time, print it out, and send it through the mail. The solution probably costs very little and it serves anyone with an email address and a computer. In fact, the person wouldn't even have to use their own computer since there are now free screen readers. So in my opinion there is no excuse for not having an accessible ballot, and there is really no excuse for forcing blind and partially sighted voters to have to vote with sighted assistance. I just hope that Denmark sees the error of their ways, and grants the right to privacy back to their blind citizens.

Have you ever voted with an accessible ballot? Are you more likely to vote if you're able to do it on your own?