No. 07-00-159/2020-02 date: 12. 3. 2020.

MINISTRY OF STATE ADMINISTRATION AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Branko Ruzic, Minister

11000 BELGRADE
Bircaninova 6

Dear Mr. Ruzic,

A person with a disability addressed the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, stating that blind people cannot electronically verify whether they are registered to vote. Namely, the program for checking the unified register of voters, which can be found on the website of the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government[1], requires that the text from a picture be read and entered in the appropriate field.

Since the speech program used by blind people does not read pictures, blind people are denied the possibility to electronically check whether they are registered to vote.

Starting from the prescribed competence of the Ministry[2], and in accordance with Article 33, item 9 of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination[3], which stipulates that the Commissioner recommends measures to public authorities to achieve equality, it is necessary to take measures within your competence to enable blind voters to check electronically whether they are registered to vote, i.e. to exercise their voting rights on an equal footing with other citizens.

Please let us know about the actions taken.

With respect,

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

Brankica Janković

[1] http://mduls.gov.rs/registri/jedinstveni-biracki-spisak/?script=lat

[2] Article 10 of the Law  on Ministries (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 44/14, 14/15, 54/15, 96/15-other law  and 62/17) and Article 2 of the Law on the Unified Register of Voters (” Official Gazette of RS “, No. 104/09 and 99/11)

[3] Article 33 of the Law  on the Prohibition of Discrimination (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 22/09)