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Constitutional Court of Colombia Judgment T-487/03 Date: 11-Jun-2003 Search For Viewable PDFs Now Popular searches for View Document PDF Yahoo Open Judgment T-487/03 NATIONAL STATE REGISTRY CIVIL-Competence for the design and production of cards electoral It is the National Registry of Civil Status through of its dependency at the central level, the Delegated Registry in the Electoral, the competent to design and determine the way they should be printed voter cards and take appropriate measures to ensure citizen participation in accordance with the provisions constitutional and legal. As the Registry enjoys autonomy administrative and budgetary framework, may sign contracts for the preparation of Electoral cards in Braille system. Therefore, the National Electoral Council when it states that it does not have the function of taking decisions regarding the voting cards to be used in the elections. RIGHT TO VOTE-Secret and autonomous STATE-Duty to Provide the means to guarantee the right to vote As For this process of participation, it is transcendental that each vote autonomous and reserved, the State has a correlative duty to to provide the logistical means necessary to guarantee it. This obligation implies that the right requires for its fulfillment of the existence of an electoral organization and the execution of a service. The assessment of these financial and management aspects must be reasonable, without neglecting to take into account the significant instrumental importance that the vote has in the materialization of the democratic principle. In this sense, has been clear that the benefit content of the right to vote is not it can prevent or affect its exercise. BLIND – Real and effective equality One of the situations that, according to the Constitution itself, requires special treatment is that of the disabled, including the visually impaired. For this reason, a constitutional framework of special protection that obliges the State to promote the real equality of these people who are in a situation of weakness manifests. The State must actively contribute to the elimination of barriers and legal impediments, promoting programs that remedy, compensate, reduce, or correct the circumstances of manifest weakness that suffer these individuals, with the aim of promoting their human development, their social integration and that their sensory conditions do not constitute a impediment to the exercise of their fundamental rights. BLIND – State protection to exercise the right to vote

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Sentencia T-487/03

Judgment

Question Presented: Whether the failure of the Registraduría to provide Braille electoral ballots to visually impaired voters violated their fundamental rights to political participation (Article 40 of the Constitution), equality (Article 13), and human dignity (Article 1) — and whether the provision of Braille ballots is a constitutionally mandated necessary consequence of the state's obligation to promote real and effective equality (igualdad real) for persons with disabilities.

Alleged Acts: Carlos Parra Dussan, a visually impaired Colombian citizen, filed an acción de tutela (writ of constitutional protection) against the Registraduría Nacional del Estado Civil (National Civil Registry), the government entity responsible for administering elections in Colombia. Parra Dussan challenged the absence of Braille electoral ballots, which prevented him and other visually impaired citizens from exercising their right to vote autonomously and in secret. Without Braille ballots, blind voters were forced to rely on a companion to mark their ballot for them, compromising the confidentiality and independence of their vote. The plaintiff argued that this situation violated his fundamental rights to political participation, equality, and human dignity. This was the second time the Constitutional Court addressed the issue of Braille voting — the first being Sentencia T-473/03, which was shortly followed by T-487/03 as a reiteration and reinforcement of the same principles.

Procedural history: Parra Dussan filed the tutela directly against the Registraduría Nacional del Estado Civil, seeking protection of his fundamental rights to vote autonomously and in secret.

Summary: Sentencia T-487/03 is a landmark Colombian Constitutional Court decision that established Braille electoral ballots as a constitutionally mandated measure to ensure that visually impaired citizens can exercise their fundamental right to vote autonomously and in secret. The Court held that the absence of Braille ballots violated the rights to political participation (Article 40), equality (Article 13), and human dignity (Article 1) of blind voters. The ruling was brought by Carlos Parra Dussan, a blind activist who later became president of the National Institute for the Blind (INCI), and it served as a reiteration and strengthening of the Court's earlier ruling in T-473/03. The decision ordered the Registraduría Nacional del Estado Civil to implement Braille voting cards and to allow persons with disabilities to be accompanied by a trusted person in the voting booth. This ruling was historically significant because it paved the way for the first use of Braille ballots in a Colombian presidential election, fulfilling a decades-long struggle by disability rights advocates to make the electoral process fully accessible.

Conclusion: The Constitutional Court granted the tutela (granted constitutional protection) and reaffirmed that Braille electoral ballots are a necessary consequence of the constitutional obligation to promote real equality for persons with visual disabilities. The Court ordered the Registraduría to ensure the availability of Braille electoral cards. The Court held that providing Braille ballots is not a mere discretionary accommodation but a constitutional obligation flowing from the state's duty under Article 13 to promote real and effective equality. The Court emphasized that a blind person's ability to understand and use the Braille system directly affects their ability to exercise their vote without undue interference ("sin injerencias extrañas e indebidas a la luz de la Constitución"). The inability to vote without a companion reading the ballot for them compromised both the autonomy and the secrecy of the vote — two essential elements of democratic participation. The Court also reaffirmed the right of persons with disabilities to enter the voting booth accompanied by a trusted person of their choice, as a complementary measure to ensure accessibility.

Legal Issue(s)

Accessibility
Voters' Rights

Applicable Law(s): Colombian Constitution, Acto Legislativo No. 2 of 2003, and Law 361 of 1997.

Region: Americas

Country: Colombia

Language of Decision

Spanish

Court: Constitutional Court

Election Type: General

Date of decision: Jun 11, 2003

Geolocation

Latitude: 4.599

Longitude: -74.0755

: Geolocation

Link: https://juristeca.com/co/corte-constitucional-de-colombia/sentencias-y-autos/2003/6/sentencia-t-487-03

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Sentencia T48703.pdf
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Sentencia T-487/03

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