Isle of Man election: Polling station access 'difficult' for disabled voters

Polling station accessibility at the Isle of Man general election could be improved, a team of observers has said.

The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association monitored the poll for the House of Keys on Thursday.

It said the process rolled out across the island was in line with international standards.

However, it found half of the polling stations observed were "not independently accessible" for voters with mobility issues.

It said access for some disabled voters was "difficult" because of "a lack of step-free access and the positioning of polling booths".

The team's preliminary statement noted that a record number of women elected to the House of Keys was a "sharp improvement" in terms of diversity and inclusion.

It highlighted that limited training for deputy returning officers had led to regulations being "implemented differently" across the island, although it said that did not "affect the integrity of the process as a whole".

Other issues noted were a lack of continuity in the training of polling station staff and some instances of "family voting" at the same polling booth which was not challenged.

A pilot project in Douglas South which allowed people to cast their vote at any polling station in the constituency "appears to have been a success" and could be extended island-wide, the monitoring team said.

Observers visited 44 of the island's 56 polling stations, including the count locations, and were present for the full count in Ayre and Michael, Douglas Central, Douglas South, and Rushen.

Head of the mission Stewart Dickson said: "Overall the election process has been very successful, it has been very fair, and it meets international democratic standards.

"Of course there are areas where there's room for improvement, and those will be things which we'll be highlighting in our report."

A final report containing recommendations will be published by the end of November.

Why not follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and Twitter? You can also send story ideas to [email protected]