I wonder if this system was used in the USA ??, Or is Sweden "leading" the way again

The wrong party's ballots were placed in the envelopes of the visually impaired
Domestic

September 11, 2022

at 10.00

The National Confederation of the Visually Impaired raises the alarm about abuses and singles out the Electoral Authority as responsible. On several occasions, the wrong ballot papers have been placed in the braille marked envelopes, which means that the visually impaired may have voted for a different party than they intended.

- This clearly shows that visually impaired voters still do not have the same opportunities to participate on the same terms in Swedish democracy," says Niklas Mattsson, chairman of the Confederation of the Visually Impaired, in a press release .

The electoral agency's head of office, Anna Nyqvist states that what happened is "deeply unfortunate" and blames the "problem" on the electoral system.

- It is a manual process where these ballots are handpicked and sent out to the people. It is of the utmost importance that it be correct, but as in all processes where people are involved, it cannot be ruled out that it will be wrong, she tells SVT . Whether the errors are mistakes or deliberate electoral fraud is currently unclear.

The National Confederation of the Visually Impaired has received reports from several visually impaired voters who received the wrong ballots in ballot envelopes marked with punctuation. Some of them have received envelopes labeled with one party's name, but with ballot papers from another party. Another one has been assigned incomplete electoral material where ballot papers from some parties were missing.

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"Can decide the choice"
- This means that there is a great risk that the visually impaired may have unknowingly voted for a different party than they intended. In an election that is so even at the national level and in many municipalities, these wrong votes can decide the election. It feels like the voting rights of the visually impaired are not taken seriously even by the Swedish Electoral Authority, and it should not be like that in Sweden in 2022, says Niklas Mattsson.

The National Confederation of the Visually Impaired is now calling on all its members who voted early to vote again on election day, because then the early vote will be deleted. The visually impaired can be helped by election officials on site. Otherwise, to avoid further inaccuracies, members are encouraged to bring someone they trust. The vote may not be cast in any other polling station than the one indicated on the voting card.

Last spring, the electoral authority was tasked by the government to, together with the state research institute RISE, develop aids for people with visual impairments so that they can vote on their own. However, this is not planned to be fully implemented until the 2026 election, according to SVT