Gibraltar

Section 24 states:

The presiding officer shall regulate the number of voters to be admitted to the polling station at the same time and shall exclude all other persons except–…

• (e)   the companions of blind voters.

Section 31, subsection 1 states:

The presiding officer, on the application of –

• (a) a voter who is incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause from voting in manner directed by these rules…shall cause the vote of the voter to be marked on a ballot paper in manner directed by the voter and the ballot paper to be placed in the ballot box.

Section 32 states:

(1) If a voter makes an application to the presiding officer to be allowed on the ground of blindness to vote with the assistance of another person by whom he is accompanied (hereinafter referred to as “the companion”), the presiding officer shall require the voter to declare orally whether he is so incapacitated by his blindness as to be unable to vote without assistance.

(2) If the presiding officer is satisfied that the voter is so incapacitated and is also satisfied by a written declaration made by the companion (hereinafter referred to as “the declaration made by the companion of a blind voter”) that the companion is a person qualified within the meaning of this rule and has not previously assisted more than one blind person to vote at the election, the presiding officer shall grant the application, and thereupon anything which is by these rules required to be done to or by the voter in connection with the giving of his vote may be done with the assistance of the companion.

(3) For the purpose of this rule, a person shall be qualified to assist a blind voter to vote, if that person is either –

• (a) a person who is entitled to vote as an elector at the election; or (b) the father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, son or daughter of the blind voter and has attained the age of eighteen years.

(4) The name and number in the register of electors of every voter whose vote is given in accordance with this rule and the name and address of the companion shall be entered on a list (hereinafter referred to as “the list of blind voters assisted by companions”).

(5) The declaration made by the companion –

• (a) shall be as in Form G in the Schedule; and
• (b) shall be made before the presiding officer at the time when the voter applies to vote with the assistance of a companion and shall forthwith be given to the presiding officer who shall attest and retain it.

(6) No fee, stamp duty or other payment shall be charged in respect of the declaration.

Section 33 states:

1. Notwithstanding any other provision of these rules, where not later than six days before the date of the election, an elector so requests and satisfies the returning officer bit the production of a medical certificate by a duly qualified medical practitioner, that by reason of physical infirmity he will be unable to leave his place of abode to go to a polling station on the date of that election, that elector may … vote at his place of abode instead of voting at a polling station.

2. In this rule place of abode includes any hospital, home, institution, or similar place where an elector for the time being resides as a patient…

13. No other person may accompany a presiding officer appointed for the purposes of this rule when he is attending at the place of abode of a voter on the absentee list or receiving such a vote: Provided that the companion of any blind voter may be present in accordance with these rules when that voter votes…

Section 34, subsection 1 states:

Notwithstanding any other provision of these rules, an elector who, owing to his temporary absence from Gibraltar is unable or likely to be unable to go in person to the polling station on the day of the poll, may after publication of the prescribed notice apply to the returning officer to be registered in the list of postal votes.

Excerpts from the Election Rules (1950, last amended 2007)