Going to vote is difficult

enough without having to contend with the people who stand just outside trying to tell you how to vote.

It is time to stop this happening. If you do not know what you are going to do when you head to the polling booth then you are not being a responsible voter. 

I went to vote yesterday. I went with an elderly acquaintance J... Her daughter had contacted me and asked me to help. J... is visually impaired. She can see well enough to manage many things but the voting paper is black on a pale green and she needed help. Would I go with her? 

Of course I did. It was a good way to get my own need to vote out of the way at the same time. I went to see her at the appointed time and she made a cup of tea and had a chat before we set out. She knew how she wanted to vote. Her daughter, who is in another state, had read material to her. She had talked with some of the Aboriginal people she once worked with in the north of this state. J... was making an informed choice.

So we headed off around to the polling station. It is where she goes to church and she is familiar with all that.

"All you need to do is put your finger where the box is," she told me, "I can write it in myself then."

"I'll close my eyes too," I told her, "Then I won't see what you are doing."

She laughed because I already knew which way she intended to vote.

Outside the church hall there were "Yes" and "No" people waiting to accost us. At election times I tell all of them, "Thank you I know how I intend to vote." I do too. I try to be an informed voter. I wondered what they would do faced with two obviously disabled people. 

One side rushed up to us with their printed material and tried to force it on us even though it was evident J.... would not be able to read it. They were women, one older and two younger. 

The other side, three older men, did not offer J... anything. One of them simply asked, "Do you know where to go? Straight ahead, not left."

Yes, we knew where to go. It was nice to be asked. The person who asked is not permitted to enter the building while campaigning. Given the opportunity however I thought he might have escorted J... He would have thought it might be necessary.

Inside there were no problems at all. I was asked if I had voted. No? Did I want to do it then? Yes. It would save me coming back. I did as J... asked and put my finger next to the box. Yes, she had the pencil in the right place. I looked back at the other people in the hall as she wrote her answer. I then wrote mine. We put our papers in the box marked with our electorate and went out. 

I made sure J... was safely across the road and she bid me goodbye. No, she didn't need help to go home along the familiar street and I would not insult her by offering. I went off to visit a very elderly nun and her somewhat younger house companion, another nun. We talked about voting and agreed that you need to know how you are going to vote before you turn up at the polling station. The people who push leaflets at you are not going to get me or J... or the nuns to change their minds at the last moment.