Enable | campaigns | Enable the Vote

Empowering people with learning disabilities to better understand and use their democratic right to vote.

Enable the Vote UK General Election

In collaboration with the Electoral Commission in Scotland we have developed Easy Read Voting Guides for a UK General Election.

These resources are free, and can be downloaded using the button below:

Download Easy Read Voting Guide

On Wednesday, May 22, the UK Prime Minister announced there would be a UK General Election taking place on:

Thursday, July 4, 2024.

We have created an Election Timetable to show you the important dates you need to know in the run up to the election.

Enable the Vote aims to:

· Support people with learning disabilities to participate in the UK General Election through providing accessible information and guidance on the voting process

· Ensure people with learning disabilities are aware of the new requirement for photographic ID which will be in place for the first time for a national election in Scotland

· Provide information to people with learning disabilities on the election through organising information and engagement events

· Research perceptions of people with learning disabilities about voting through focus groups prior to the election and experiences of voting through focus groups after the election.

Enable the Vote fulfils an important purpose because only around 30% of people with a learning disability vote in elections compared to the 67.3% of the general population who voted in the 2019 UK General Election.

Along with research into comparatively low participation by people with learning disabilities in elections in the UK (Emerson and Hatton 2008) international research corroborates a lower level of participation in elections by people with learning disabilities - in the Swedish elections of 1994 and 1998, between 80% and 86% of the general population voted compared to 20% and 31% of people with intellectual disabilities respectively (Umb-Carlsson & Sonnander 2005; Kjellberg 2002).

Despite this current low level of participation, research by Mencap published in 2014 indicated that 70% of people with a learning disability want to vote.