Accessible Voting in the Senedd Elections on 7th May 2026
On Thursday 7th May, there is a Senedd (Welsh Parliament) Election in Wales, where voters will choose their next Welsh Government and Members of the Senedd. You have a right to request a reasonable adjustment to vote in the Senedd election and RNIB Cymru is encouraging people with sight loss to write to their local Returning Officer (who is responsible for running elections in your area) or local electoral services as soon as possible, to tell them that you require reasonable adjustments in order to vote independently.
People living in the Cardiff, the Vale of Glamorgan and parts of Bridgend should note that that they will automatically be able to use an RNIB Accord player to vote at the polling station. All they need to do is ask for it and they can use it alongside a tactile voting device. The Accord player was tested during the RNIB Cymru and Welsh Government voting trials, and overall it was the preferred audio voting device out of the three that were tested. We recommend that those living in Bridgend check with their local electoral services to see if their polling station will have an Accord Player. For those living outside of the Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan areas, they will need to request an audio device if they want one. RNIB Cymru have posted a video to their socials which is a demo of how to use the Accord, which you can access on Instagram and Facebook.
The RNIB website contains template letters that can be used when you make your request to your local Returning officer, together with other information about voting in the Senedd election.
To find out your local electoral services’ contact information, you can use the Electoral Commission’s postcode look up tool. Enter your postcode in the “My next election” section, and then scroll down on the page that comes up to the section titled “Your local council” which shows the address and email contact that you need. When you get in touch it’s important to provide your full name, address, and postcode.
If you submit a request, it would be appreciated if you could let RNIB Cymru know by emailing Liz Williams, liz.williams@rnib.org.uk as this will help them to know which Councils have been contacted, so they can follow up and monitor accessible voting provision.
Posted on the 10th of April 2026