Green Party Leader Sharon Labchuk is raising concern over Liberal party workers in Charlottetown driving vanloads of people with intellectual disabilities to advance polls.
Volunteers for all political parties routinely offer free rides to the polls on election day and on advance polling days. Parties also go to group homes, community care facilities and seniors’ facilities and take larger groups of people from these homes to polling stations.
But Labchuk says she believes some of those with intellectual challenges may be being pushed to vote and perhaps even convinced to vote for the parties driving them around. She thinks the practice is extremely unethical.
“I feel offended by it on several levels,” Labchuk said in an interview.
“I feel it’s taking advantage of people with intellectual disabilities and using them for political purposes.”
In the Charlottetown-Victoria riding, where Labchuk is running against Liberal incumbent Richard Brown, there are more group homes and community care facilities than in any other riding in the province.
Lowell Croken, chief electoral officer for Elections P.E.I., said he has seen both the Liberal and Conservative parties focus particularly on the first Saturday advance polling day for driving large groups of people from group homes to the polling stations.
During the 2007 election, there were so many van- and carloads from these homes, the lineups for the advance poll became unusually long.
As a result, on the first Saturday advance poll of this election, extra staff and an extra polling booth was added in the Charlottetown-Victoria riding to accommodate the crowds.
Croken said he has received calls recently from people voicing concerns over this issue.
“Image-wise it doesn’t look well, but the people are qualified electors, they have the right to vote,” Croken said.
“It is an acceptable practice but the downside is (the parties) are going to the group homes and possibly taking advantage of people that have some disabilities or disadvantages.”
He added that both parties have driven residents in the past, but this year it has only been one party — the Liberal party.
Labchuk said she believes something should be done to protect people who could potentially be exploited.
Those who make the decision to ask for rides should of course be free to do so, she said. But protection should be offered to those who may be coerced or convinced into being ferried to the polls.
”They’re going into these homes and rounding up people with intellectual disabilities on behalf of the Liberal party and hauling them into the poll stations,” Labchuk said.
“I think there should be rules to protect people from exploitation at the home level — that political parties should not be allowed to come in and haul these people off in vans.”
John Hennessey, Liberal campaign chair for the district, said the rides are offered purely as a way to help people with intellectual or physical disabilities get the chance to vote.
“Driving people to the polls is a long-standing tradition of all political parties ... and that includes people in seniors’ accommodations or group homes. It just so happens in District 12 we have a lot of group homes,” Hennessey said.
“Our view is, people in group homes, many of them have mental challenges, but they do have a right to vote ... they have a right to participate fully, equally, the same as anyone else in the political process, and included in that is the right to be driven to the polls.”
Neither Elections P.E.I. nor the P.E.I. Council of People with Disabilities have ever received a formal complaint about this issue.
Well Rob, she isn't arranging transportation for people affected by an Intellectual Disability, nor is she hauling them away by the van loads... instead she is criticizing others for doing so. At the end of the day... it's about "Equality of Opportunity" for individuals affected by an Intellectual Disability. Would the individuals affected by I.D. been given the opportunity to vote in the Polling Stations with their peers otherwise? Afterall it is only culturally appropriate; I don't have electoral officers coming to my residence to get my vote..... I N C L U S I O N