Legal and technical barriers to voting

• Author: European Economic and Social Committee
• Pages: 11-21

To protect the interests of citizens with

intellectual disabilities or mental health

problems, EU countries allow for types

of legal guardianship based on the

capabilities of their wards.

For example, plenary guardians make

almost all decisions for their ward, while

partial guardians make some decisions,

depending on the individual.

In nine EU countries, the legal system

automatically revokes the voting rights

of persons under plenary guardianship

while in seven depriving a person of

the right to vote is possible based on a

court’s assessment of the individual. In

11 EU countries, an individual cannot be

deprived of the right to vote under any

circumstances. The number of persons

with disabilities who cannot vote varies

widely by country.

In Portugal, around 100 persons with

disabilities cannot exercise their right

to vote, while in other countries, the

number could be as high as around

300000 people.

In recent years, EU countries have tended

to move away from automatically

revoking voting rights. Instead, national

legal systems more often limit those

rights in a small number of instances,

decided by a court on a case-by-case

basis. Some countries have abolished all

limitations.

The European Parliament and other

EU institutions should help to accelerate

this change in Member State legal

systems, with the goal of abolishing

all legal restrictions on the rights of

persons with disabilities to vote, the

report proposes.

LEGAL AND

TECHNICAL BARRIERS

TO VOTING

Breaking down the barriers 11

Breaking down the barriers 11