The State will not appeal a decision made in favour of a visually impaired man who sought to vindicate his right to cast his vote in secret. On Thursday 13 July, Mr. Justice Tony O’Connor was informed that the State had decided not to appeal his High Court ruling.
The case was taken by Robbie Sinnott against the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government in 2014 asking the State to introduce measures that would enable him as a blind person to vote in secret and not through the assistance of a ‘trusted friend’ or presiding officer as had previously been the procedure through which visually impaired people voted.
The judgment, which was critical of the delays and lack of transparency in introducing regulations to provide visually impaired people a means of voting privately, resulted in declaration in April where the Minister’s duty to provide such arrangements were set out. Under Section 94(5)(i) of the 1992 Electoral Act the Minister must provide for such voting facilities for the visually impaired “where there are no disclosed reasonably practicable economic or effective reasons” preventing this.
As well as receiving a High Court declaration in his favour, Mr. Sinnott also secured his legal costs against the Minister.
Click here and here for previous Bulletin articles on the case.