Make this the last inaccessible election for blind people in UK, campaigners demand

The RNIB estimates that 160,000 people in the UK of voting age with severe sight loss will struggle to vote independently at the general election on 4 July. Photograph: Alex Segre/Alamy

Tens of thousand of people with sight loss will be denied their right to a secret ballot at next week’s general election, campaigners have warned, prompting calls to make it the last inaccessible election.

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is calling on all political parties to commit to remove barriers that prevent blind people voting on their own and without help in future elections.