One of my voluntary activities is shooting for the Dutch Eye Association (Oogvereniging). Recently I made some photos of a relatively new service that allows visually impaired people to vote themselves without assistance. For many VIP's (visually Impaired People) this is a major step in living an independent life. Frankly, I did not realize how important this is. Unfortunately only 26 voting locations enable voting by visually impaired people. Herewith some shots of the voting process as well as the production of the mold that is being used to enable VIP-voting.
The voting process. Vincent Bijlo, a blind comedian, was invited to an event hosted by the mayor of Utrecht and the Eye Association:
Register for voting:
A soundbox assist in selecting the party and candidate:
Done!
And now the vote counts:
A special mold is used to enable voting. The mold is made by FabLab The Hague and is a labor-intensive process. They allowed me to shoot the final steps during a super busy time. Here is a visual overview:
Tools needed to complete the laser cut mold:
Mounting Numbers and braille stickers:
Glueing:
Different colors for different elections:
Different sizes. Sizes of voting papers vary per printer and city:
Putting the voting paper in the mold:
The paper has to fit perfectly!
Embossed numbers and braille stickers for party identification:
Finding the party via embossed numbers or braille coding:
Finding the candidate:
Voting:
BTW: the photos of the actual use of the voting mold are fictious. Voting itself is a personal activity that cannot be photographed.
