Temporary procedures for the participation of voters using wheelchairs in the 2020 Parliamentary Elections of Georgia

1. Voters using wheelchairs shall be entitled to participate in the 2020 Parliamentary Elections of Georgia at any adapted polling station in the territory of the relevant majoritarian electoral district, for which they shall apply to the relevant district or precinct election commission not later than the 6^th day before the polling day. In order for a voter to change a polling station:

a) the secretary of a district/precinct election commission shall register and endorse with his/her signature a written application (the application shall include the personal identification number of a citizen of Georgia) or a telephoned verbal application (in this case, the application shall include the personal number of a voter, exact time of the telephone notification and the appropriate telephone number) of a voter;

b) in the case of a voter's application to the district election commission, the relevant precinct election commission shall be notified about the inclusion of a registered voter in the special voter list of an adapted polling station registered in the voter list of the said polling station. In the case of a voter's application to the precinct election commission, the precinct election commission shall transfer the information about the voter to the relevant district election commission not later than the 6^th day before the polling day;

c) the unified voters list shall indicate the transfer of a voter to a special voter list in an adapted electoral precinct in the territory of the same majoritarian electoral district, also, in the unified voters list and the special voters list, in the ‘Actual Status column, the entry ‘a User of a wheelchair’ shall be made, which shall be endorsed by the signatures of the chairperson of the precinct election commission and the Secretary of the same commission.

2. The members of the precinct election commission, representatives of electoral subjects and the observers shall have the right to verify the validity of the request for voting at a polling station adapted for wheelchair users and at any time raise before the PEC the issue of the expediency of including these voters in the relevant special list before the Election Day. The decision on this matter shall be made by the district election commission within the timeframe established by this article, based on the information provided by the precinct election commission.

3. The district election commission shall establish and approve, by an ordinance, the special list of adapted polling station voters not later than the 3^rdday before the polling day, received from the precinct election commissions, as well as on the basis of their own data, and shall immediately transfer to the relevant precinct election commission a version of the list intended for the public information, signed by the chairperson and the secretary of the same commission, and not later than 12 hours before the voting – the version intended for the election commission.

4. The special voter list of the adapted polling station shall include the same voter data as in the unified voters list, and shall additionally indicate the serial number of the voter in the unified voters list.

5. The version of the special list of voters of the adapted polling station designated for public information (without photos) transferred by the district election commission to the precinct election commission shall be immediately posted in a visible place inside the PEC building (polling station).

6. The state authorities, municipality bodies, legal entities under public law (except for membership-based and religious associations) and organisations established with more than 50% participation interest of the state and municipality bodies are obliged to adapt at least four buildings for the placement of electoral precincts in the territory of the respective majoritarian electoral district (in different places, according to the geographical/territorial principle) in order to ensure availability for voters using wheelchairs, and communicate information about the adapted electoral precincts to the Election Administration of Georgia before 1 September 2020.

Organic Law of Georgia No 6723 of 2 July 2020 – website, 3.7.2020

Organic Law of Georgia No 7097 of 3 September 2020 – website, 4.9.2020