Just imagine the horror

On June 07 2018, my neighbor Sandra and I walked to our polling station to cast our votes in a Provincial Election.  It was a beautiful day; warm sun, mild winds, and a rich fragrance of  floral spray in the air and as the birds serenaded us on our walk over neither of us could have imagined what lay in store for us.

Suffice it to say that at the end of it all my privacy and right to independence were completely decimated and my humility was totally crushed.  For never in my life did I ever expect to be treated to such disrespect and discourtesy especially so in Canada let alone in Ontario.

I never thouhht that in my wildest dreams I would be forced to endure such unbearable belittling and it was probably one of the darkest days of advocacy in my life.  I am going to paste below an email minus the contact info that my neighbor Sandra sent to Elections Ontario shortly after we returned home from voting.  Rest assured that this is far from over and I am going to do everything in my power to encourage Elections Ontario to provide answers as to why this deplorable incident was allowed to take place.

I seek answers and I demand transparency and accountability.

Just my two cents for today.

***

“I voted today at my polling station at 55 Huntingdale Blvd. With me was my neighbour, Donna Jodhan, who is visually impaired. The returning officers at first insisted that I or one of them go into the private booth with her which is not correct. After searching the table they found the Braille folder, however, they did not know how to use it so that the numbers of the candidates matched up with what I thought were the numbers on the Braille folder. I had to fold the ballot so that it would fit. I then read to Donna the number of the various parties. Imagine my surprise and her horror that what was printed in Braille beside the open circles was not numbers or anything else she recognized. It was only due to my reading out the numbers and fixing the ballot so that there were 9 circles to match the ballot was she able to vote privately.

We filled out a concerns sheet right after she voted and put it in the box. I’m writing this because I cannot believe in this day and age voting is not more accessible to all people. Educating the returning officers, to the needs of all who might need assistance, for a start would be very helpful. Secondly, who transcribed the Braille information on the folder? The info wasn’t upside down, as Donna figured that out herself, so what did the Braille script mean?

I would not mind being contacted to describe in full what transpired today.

Thank-you,

Sandra Gaskins”

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