A/HRC/39/28 37. States should take measures to protect the safety of candidates, particularly women candidates, who are at risk of violence and intimidation, including genderbased violence, during the electoral process. 38. States should amend their national legal provisions that limit the right to vote on grounds of legal capacity and adopt the legal measures necessary to ensure that all persons with disabilities, especially those with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, may exercise their right to vote. 39. States should take measures to ensure full accessibility for persons with disabilities in all aspects of the electoral process by, inter alia: (a) Guaranteeing the free expression of the will of persons with disabilities as electors and to that end, for those who cannot exercise their right to vote independently, and at their request, allowing assistance in voting by a person of their own choice; (b) Ensuring accessible voting procedures and facilities, and when full accessibility cannot be guaranteed, providing reasonable accommodation in order to ensure that persons with disabilities can effectively exercise their right to vote; (c) Providing training for electoral officials on the rights of persons with disabilities in elections; (d) Ensuring that electoral and voting materials are appropriate, accessible to the diversity of persons with disabilities and easy to understand and use. 40. States should consider aligning the minimum voting age and the minimum age of eligibility to stand for elections, to encourage the political participation of young people. 41. States should not exclude persons in pretrial detention from exercising the right to vote, as a corollary of the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law. 42. States should not impose automatic blanket bans on the right to vote for persons serving or having completed a custodial sentence, which do not take into account the nature and gravity of the criminal offence or the length of the sentence. 43. When appropriate, States should remove the practical obstacles that may hinder the exercise of the right to vote by persons serving a custodial sentence. 44. States should facilitate the independent scrutiny of voting and counting, including by providing access to places of voting, counting and tabulation of results. 45. Electoral management bodies should be able to function independently and impartially, irrespective of their composition. Such bodies should be open, transparent and maximally consultative in their decision-making and provide access to relevant information for all stakeholders. 46. States should ensure that their legal framework provides for the right of candidates to effectively challenge elections results and for remedies that are prompt, adequate and effective, and enforceable within the context of the electoral calendar. 47. States should consider, on the basis of appropriate national consultations and consultations with host States, and taking into consideration all relevant factors, allowing citizens who are abroad or temporarily out of the country to exercise their right to vote. 48. States should consider extending the right to vote to non-citizens after a period of lawful and habitual, long-term residence, at least for local elections. B. Participation in non-electoral contexts 49. In its general comment No. 25 (1996), the Human Rights Committee states that the conduct of public affairs is a broad concept that covers all aspects of public administration, 9