In February 2025 the Welsh Government tested three audio and two tactile voting solutions with 13 blind and partially sighted voters across 77 trials in Cardiff and Wrexham, finding 94% chose their intended candidate, 83% voted independently and 91% voted in secret.
77
Trials completed (February 2025)
94 %
Trials with correct vote marked (February 2025)
83 %
Trials completed independently (February 2025)
Details
Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Welsh Government (with RNIB Cymru, Vision Support, Cardiff Council and Wrexham Council)
Period
February 2025
Keywords
elections, assistive technology, accessibility, public services
Context
In February 2025 the Welsh Government worked with RNIB Cymru, Vision Support, and Cardiff and Wrexham electoral services to trial accessible voting equipment with 13 blind and partially sighted participants across two councils.
Results
Participants completed 77 trials of five audio and tactile voting solutions. 94% of trials resulted in the participant correctly marking their intended choice, 83% were completed independently, and 91% were completed in secret. The audio-accord and Tactile Voting Device rated most favourably.
Conclusions
A genuine, still-evolving pilot with encouraging usability results, not yet an evaluated national programme; further trials were planned for other accessibility needs.
Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Short (< 1 year)
Staffing & skills
Welsh Government elections team, RNIB Cymru, Vision Support, Cardiff Council electoral services, Wrexham Council electoral services
Conditions for success
Mandatory training for polling-station staff
Improved lighting and colour contrast at polling stations
Pre-election familiarisation with devices
Commonly funded by
National / regional programmes
Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.
Do you run this practice?
Claim it —
verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.
Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
Brazil's federal government embeds a free, open-source 3D avatar that machine-translates Portuguese text into Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) across public …
