No votes for the physically challenged?
“We had no transport to get to the voting stations,” says Juliana Zanetti. “It’s the same as four years ago.”
The halls of Nil Desperandum are silent.
The question is repeated, just in case it was not understood, but it is clear the residents’ response is more clearly conveyed without words.
A resident rolls her wheelchair closer. She says most, if not all of Nil Desperandum’s residents have not registered to vote, and it seems doubtful they have ever cast a vote at the ballot box.
Why have they never participated in this important process?
“We had no transport to get to the voting stations,” says Juliana Zanetti. “It’s the same as four years ago.”
The Nil Desperandum residents may have applied for special votes with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), but one glaring oversight would make this impossible – the residents have never registered as voters. As such, they have no registered voting station and have missed the cut-off dates.
Zanetti believes the residents of Nil Desperandum are sidelined by political parties during the voting process, as it appears their votes count for nothing.
“No parties come here to help us, and many of our residents don’t even understand the process.”
ALSO READ: VOTERS: Confirm your details on the voters roll this weekend
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