Argentina’s election authorities must guarantee the right to a universally accessible secret vote

The rights to secrecy of the vote, privacy, political participation and non-discrimination were undermined in Argentina’s October 2025 legislative elections.

Federal election authorities failed to ensure  universal accessibility to a secret vote in the election. The fundamental human rights of certain people in Argentina's electorate, including those who are blind and have low vision, and illiterate people, were infringed upon. Read our report in full here. 

The October 2025 election saw the landmark introduction of a new voting system across the country, known as the “Boleta Única de Papel -BUP-” (Unique Paper Ballot). However, thanks to local CSOs such as Asociación Tiflonexos and others, the alarm was raised in the run up to the election that the system was not made accessible to blind and partially sighted people, leading to a last-minute but ultimately incomplete attempt from electoral authorities to implement accessibility provisions.

Ensuring universally accessible design from the inception of institutional and electoral systems such as Argentina’s new BUP system must be understood as being of essential benefit to the whole of society, not only as something targeted towards catering to people with disabilities. An electoral system which is meaningfully accessible should facilitate the autonomous, private, secure and secret vote for everybody in the electorate, including people who are elderly, illiterate, living with disabilities or who face linguistic or technological challenges. This was highlighted in contributions to the report by Argentinian civil society organisation la Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC).

We find that the BUP system did not fully or universally guarantee the fundamental right to secrecy of the vote, privacy, political participation and non-discrimination for some people in Argentina’s electorate, including those who are blind or partially sighted. These rights are enshrined in Argentinian national legislation as well as in a host of international treaties and other instruments to which the state is party.

We are concerned by the shortcomings of this system and the human rights implications of reports received by Tiflonexos of cases where some individuals chose not to vote due to the lack of access to a secret and autonomous vote in these midterms.

The primary rights affected were:

The rights to a secret vote and political participation
The Boleta Única de Papel system, by design, obliged people with visual disabilities in the provinces in question either to vote without having a secret vote - as they would have been obliged to be accompanied by a second person who would assist them in casting their vote - or to not vote at all.

The right to privacy
The BUP system required people who are blind and with low vision to disclose their political opinion to the person assisting their vote to replicate that choice in the ballot. The political candidate that a person elects by casting their vote is particularly sensitive information. It is a prime example of information which reveals a person’s political opinion, and is thus categorised as special category sensitive personal data.

The right to non-discrimination 
The BUP system did not provide universal equal access to a secret vote for people in Argentina's electorate, including those who are blind and with low vision. This created an inequality as a direct result of the disabilities of blind and partially sighted people.

Recommendations
Together with Transparencia Electoral, we call upon Argentina’s National Electoral Chamber and the National Electoral Directorate to implement accessible voting, provision of non-internet dependent audio devices, and availability & security of an accessible ballot. CSOs and NGOs that represent people who are blind and have low vision should also be consulted when running elections, in order to guarantee their participation. These provisions should be ensured in all future elections, including in 2027.

Read our full report: Argentina’s election authorities must guarantee the right to a universally accessible secret vote