Photo ID needed to vote? Please no.

[flashbac]

The government are bringing in (photo) voter ID meaning you'll need to show your passport or driving licence when going to cast your vote.

By all means reform the postal voting system but not this. Not everyone drives or goes abroad and this will bar many people from voting. Driving licences and passports are not cheap.

amp.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/10/queens-speech-photo-id-future-elections-social-care?

I completely agree. There have been various points I have had no photographic ID (economic reasons), I always, always vote.No ID should not mean no vote, this is just wrong.

In Hong Kong we all (locals and expats) have ID cards (known as HKID). I thought it was really strange when I first came here but 4 years on I think it’s brilliant. Everyone gets an identity card that you use for absolutely everything no need to use a driving license/passport (even in the airport, you just swipe your HKID although obviously you have to have your passport for the other end of the flight!). I’d be in favour of having a similar system here, it means no one ever has to pay for ID and it can be used for voting etc! But requiring people to in effect pay to vote would be dreadful

In NI we need photo ID to vote. The Electoral Commission provides this free of charge of you don’t have a passport, driving license, bus pass etc.

The only way this should be allowed is if everyone over 18 is automatically issued with a free voter ID card, for which updates and replacements are also free, and if there is a massive drive to reach out to ensure people are given this. But that won't happen, because this is about voter suppression and not election fraud.

Sounds like a good idea, it's not much to ask for people to prove their identity when casting their vote. As long as plenty of notice is given so that people can apply for a passport if they don't already have one.

Voter fraud in the UK is almost non-existent. This is just the Tories copying from the Republican's Big Book of Voter Suppression.

@pointythings

The only way this should be allowed is if everyone over 18 is automatically issued with a free voter ID card, for which updates and replacements are also free, and if there is a massive drive to reach out to ensure people are given this. But that won't happen, because this is about voter suppression and not election fraud.

Agree absolutely.

I don't have a passport as I've not left the country for the past 4 years and have no plans to do so. The cost of a passport is astronomical these days so I saw no point renewing my last one when it expired. No way should people have to work out if they have the money to be able to apply for ID so they can vote - this is taking us back to the days when people had to have a certain income to be allowed to vote.

@skirk64

Sounds like a good idea, it's not much to ask for people to prove their identity when casting their vote. As long as plenty of notice is given so that people can apply for a passport if they don't already have one.

A passport costs around £75. This is before other costs like getting your photo verified, paid for postage for birth certificate and so on. If you are on benefits how can your afford this?

@skirk64

Sounds like a good idea, it's not much to ask for people to prove their identity when casting their vote. As long as plenty of notice is given so that people can apply for a passport if they don't already have one.

Do you seriously think everybody can afford a passport? Sounds like a good idea if you want to disenfranchise large groups of the population.

Maybe we could have a photo ID card that anyone can apply for -= not just for voting but other things like opening a bank account, or DBS checks etc.

I don't have a problem with ID cards because we have to prove our ID all the time anyway - in deeply inconvenient ways. Give everyone an affordable/free ID card and that problem goes away.

If they are free in NI, then they should be free in the rest of the UK.

If you can get a free voter ID card, I’m fine with it.

We need ID to vote in Ireland but the list of things that count as ID is a lot longer. There’s an A list that you just need one of, like a passport/ student ID/credit union book; and a B list that you need additional proof of address for, so a birth/marriage certificate or a credit card and then a bill for proof of address. I think it being so broad means that the vast majority of people would have at least one option. Just a drivers license/passport seems awful!!

I’d rather carry a simple ID card than need to provide my passport.

@skirk64

Sounds like a good idea, it's not much to ask for people to prove their identity when casting their vote. As long as plenty of notice is given so that people can apply for a passport if they don't already have one.

So a perfect way to prevent the very poor from voting in other words.

I didn't have photo ID until I was mid 20's, I didn't drive and hadn't been abroad until then, I expect lots of young people (and some older ones) from non priveliged backgrounds are the same.

Oh good, I can't see any way this could go wrong.

I didn't have photo ID until I was mid 20's, I didn't drive and hadn't been abroad until then, I expect lots of young people (and some older ones) from non priveliged backgrounds are the same

I suspect it's very common, especially in less privileged demographics.

If you can't afford to run a car, or go on foreign holidays, why on earth would you spend money to get a drivers license or passport?

Ah great

I don’t have a passport. Haven’t had one for at least 10 years

I don’t have a driving license either.

I've run elections on behalf of local government before - I was in charge of a busy department for about 20 years.
In all that time we had... ZERO cases of voter fraud, ZERO allegations, and I know of only a handful across the country.
In the same period, we had numerous allegations of political parties breaking the rules, committing electoral fraud (1 chap from a minor party was sent to prison for it), and there are many many cases where political campaigners made fraudulent applications for postal votes, or handled postal votes (they shouldn't touch them) sent in by voters. Most of these were linked to the same party that Boris is the leader of...

@Serpenta

Voter fraud in the UK is almost non-existent. This is just the Tories copying from the Republican's Big Book of Voter Suppression.

You don’t know this because no one checks the identity of voters.

There is a validated alternative called something like a Citizen card which only costs about £10.00 so provided that was allowed then it is not such a restriction on voting.

But it is ID cards by the back door which I think the country is against.

How does this stop election fraud by postal voters, when their ID won't be checked due to voting by post?

www.eoni.org.uk/Electoral-Identity-Card/How-to-apply

Northern Ireland has had them for ages. THEY ARE FREE

@WorkingItOutAsIGo

There is a validated alternative called something like a Citizen card which only costs about £10.00 so provided that was allowed then it is not such a restriction on voting.

But it is ID cards by the back door which I think the country is against.

£10 may not seem like much, but for some it is. And requiring it means people are having to pay to vote, which is ludicrous

“Polling station voting in Great Britain remains vulnerable to personation fraud because there are currently few checks available to prevent someone claiming to be an elector and voting in their name. This part of the system could become more vulnerable to fraud as other processes (including electoral registration and postal or proxy voting) become more secure. We have therefore concluded that there should be a requirement for electors across Great Britain to present an acceptable form of identification prior to voting at the polling station.
We have found little evidence to suggest that the identity-checking scheme applied in Northern Ireland presents difficulties for people in terms of accessibility. At the same time, it provides a level of security that virtually eliminates the risk of personation. For these reasons, the system in Northern Ireland should provide the basis for a Great Britain-wide, geographically consistent and compulsory polling station voter identification scheme.”
www.electoralcommission.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf_file/Electoral-fraud-review-final-report.pdf

The UK getting over its aversions to ID cards could easily sort this.
They are useful in many situations... Proof of age. My kids nursery used to ask for photo ID for an unusual person picking up. To pick up parcels. And... For voting.
(When we lived in Germany we had to show our ID cards when we witnessed a car accident in case we needed to provide extra information after the initial witness statement... So guaranteed they could track us down. )