Toplak and Mrak v. Slovenia

[8] In 2010, the Constitutional Court of Slovenia rejected an appeal filed by five disabled voters, but explained that as many polling stations as possible should be accessible.

[10] The applicant Franc Toplak came there on his wheelchair and learned that due to a mistake by the authorities, even this polling station was blocked by stairs and thus was not accessible.

[14] During the course of proceedings, in the week preceding the referendum, election authorities built a ramp at the entrance of Toplak's polling place.

[1] The school had used the back entry primarily for trash disposal and had a ramp and narrow path used for the rubbish bin transport.

[20] The Harvard Law School, NUI Galway, Equinet, disability organisations, and the Slovenian Equality Defender submitted their expert opinion to the court during the proceedings.

[21][22] The applicant Toplak was not able to hold a pen and the only way for him to cast ballot without revealing his vote to another person[20] was by the use of assistive technology.

Such equipment had been available in Slovenian elections for several years and enabled blind people or persons who were not able to vote independently, but its use had been abandoned in 2017.

The court stated that "the decision as to whether voting machines should be used for that purpose is to be made primarily by the national authorities."

The court was of the opinion that other options available, especially "the possibility of assistance by a person of his own choice", Slovenia has not "failed to strike a fair balance between the protection of the interests of the community and respect for the first applicant’s rights and freedoms, as safeguarded by the Convention.

[24] In regards to Mrak having used the back entrance intended for rubbish disposal and having to wait and ask a passerby to push him up the ramp, the Court wrote that "since voting is organised ad hoc in buildings that otherwise serve other purposes it might be particularly difficult to ensure full accessibility in respect of the voting process for people with different types of disability in advance" and since "the improvement of accessibility in the built environment may take time," it "is essential that in the meantime the domestic authorities react with the requisite diligence to ensure that people with disabilities can vote freely and by secret ballot.

In the present case, the National Commission responded promptly and constructively to the applicants’ request that their respective polling stations be rendered accessible.

Everyone means everyone, and the state should assure the possibility to cast a secret ballot to everyone”, the Slovenian Disability Rights Association president Sebastjan Kamenik commented on the judgment.

[27] Andrew Cutting, the Council of Europe's spokesperson,[28] quoted Jurij Toplak, law professor at the Alma Mater Europaea, who represented the applicants, saying that about half of polling places in Europe were not accessible or lacked equipment for blind voters to cast a secret ballot.