Elections Manitoba celebrated Manitoba Access Awareness Week by launching four simple and colourful animated videos showing viewers how to vote, how to register, steps to consider when planning to vote, and the types of election jobs available with Elections Manitoba.
“We are committed to making the democratic process accessible to all Manitobans,” said Chief Electoral Officer Shipra Verma. “By providing useful election information that’s easy to understand and making it available in a variety of formats, we continue to remove barriers to voting. We are pleased to celebrate Access Awareness Week and continue our work towards accessibility standards.”
There are two versions of each video, one in English with English closed captioning and American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation, and the other in French with French closed captioning and Langue Signe du Québec (LSQ) interpretation.
“As a Deaf person and a member of the Deaf Community, accessing election information in American Sign Language (ASL), along with the closed-captioned videos, gives Deaf Manitobans an opportunity to understand the information with more clarity,” said Denise W. “ASL provides the facial expressions and body language in a video format and not just in written English. Providing information in ASL gives me and everyone who uses ASL an equal opportunity to understand the important information from Elections Manitoba. Thank you so much for making ASL available.”
The videos can be viewed on the Elections Manitoba website and YouTube channel. The independent office of the Legislative Assembly will work with community organizations to circulate them widely on social media.
Elections Manitoba offers many accessible voting options, including homebound voting, interpretation service and assistance to vote. Recent legislative change also allows voters to use their own assistive devices to vote. Find out more at electionsmanitoba.ca.
