How come we don't have to prove our identity to vote?

[user476t58]

I rocked up at my polling station after work without my polling card as I'd left it at home. I was just asked my address & given my voting paper. They weren't interested in seeing any ID. There's so much scope for cheating without any checks..

I do find it odd too, but that's the way it is. Personally, I'd have no problem showing some form of ID, but we aren't legally obliged to. [shrug]

@Pinotpleasure : students can register to vote in two locations. For general elections they can only vote in one of them. My daughters always used to vote in their university town because their felt their votes made more of a difference there.

It used to be the case that in local elections people with homes in two different council areas could vote in both (assuming both were holding elections). I think that is still the case, because they would be two completely separate elections.

Anyone could rock up with your voting card though.

The main problem is postal voting.

Our area was one of the trial areas for voter ID. Basically if you didn't have ID you could get something from the council. But you'd have to know that ahead of time to apply for it, so you are immediately disadvantaging people without the Internet, photo ID, those who don't read the local paper or anything that comes through the door. It just reduces turnout.

I agree that voter ID should be used. The free voter card for anyone without ID makes it fair and reasonable in my view. It would be easy for any person who knew someone was not going to vote to take their vote as all you need to know is street and house number along with person's name. So many people don't vote it would be entirely possible for 1 person to vote several times if they went in different times of day and wore different clothing. Can't think why anyone would be that invested though, especially in a local election. I do know a person who voted in general election and then voted as his brother who was not voting though so it does obviously happen sometimes.

There is no legal requirement for ID in England (I don't know about Scotland, Wales or NI) other than a birth certificate which has no photo or address, so they cannot demand it for voting. They sometimes consider bringing in mandatory photo ID to reduce voting fraud but acknowledge that this would further reduce voter turnout.

exactly.

If you require ID for in-person voting, then it will be a perverse incentive to register for a postal vote, which has much higher levels of abuse and coercion

That's weird. I had to show my ID.

Given the advice in NI was to vote early and vote often

I don't believe this is borne out in the example of Northern Ireland where ID is required.

If anything, apathy towards political parties on offer is a significant driver for disenfranchisement of voters. Effectively, they distrust politicians to the point they won't vote for any of them. A valid enough viewpoint anywhere.

I don’t have ID so wouldn’t be able to vote, haven’t been on holiday in 10 years so I have a passport but it’s out of date (nowhere will accept that as ID) and don’t drive.

Was that real ID inside the polling station, or people outside asking to see your card?
The latter is parties just checking who has voted so they know whether to call on you to remind you later (if you are one of theirs) and/or whether to canvas you in future as someone who actually bothers to vote. You don't need to give them any info.

If it is an issue, you could apply for a provisional drivers license?

I’ve always been told that can’t be used for ID needs to be a full license?

Yes you would as you would be able to get a Free Voter Card from your local authority according to the draft legislation.

There's no requirement to show ID in Scotland or Wales either.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where ID is required in order to vote.

"Introduced to counter lack of public confidence in the electoral process in Northern Ireland, the Act was found to have improved public perceptions, and returning officers also reported a marked reduction in suspected incidences of voting fraud."

No real reason this shouldn't be law in England, Scotland and Wales.

For those with no ID, Northern Ireland has an Electoral ID card available. These are FREE of charge.

So, the objection that requiring ID in order to vote would disenfranchise those who don't have ID or cannot afford one is....baseless.

No reason why Voter ID cards couldn't be free in England, Scotland and Wales.

I’ve just been. I could clearly see the list and I was offered my eldest child’s card even though I said my name and I have a different surname. It’s very lax but I do accept fraud is probably low. They could make it easier to register for postal votes which would improve accessibility and short of breaking into someone’s house, hard to obtain.

Provisional driving licences ARE valid and acceptable forms of ID.

Voter ID cards are free in Northern Ireland, so there's no reason why they couldn't be free in England, Scotland and Wales.

I also think that there should be a better system in place for postal votes to prevent fraud.
But as others have said, there is virtually no fraud. And to make any difference to the outcome of an election it would have to be coordinated fraud on a huge scale.

One thing which has occurred to me; is it possible for students to be able to vote twice - at their term time address and their usual place of residence?

It is possible, but it is fraud, with repercussions if caught.

It did not reduce turnout in Northern Ireland and the requirement to apply for a voter ID card was well publicised in advance.

It's possible to deal with that concern. Voter ID improved public perceptions and confidence in the electoral process, actually.

One issue with postal votes is someone unilaterally returning them for all the household, or being coercive as to how other members of the household vote.

Another is false registration of occupants.

it isn't particularly people intercepting the post from outside the household.

The Electoral Commissions report part 5 disagrees. Changes have already been implemented to close the postal vote vulnerabilities.

@TeenPlusCat
One issue with postal votes is someone unilaterally returning them for all the household, 2007 changes require the voter to send in a signature that must match their signature on record. If they don’t match, the inner vote envelope is unopened and not counted.

being coercive as to how other members of the household vote. This is an ongoing vulnerability but the electoral commission decided “5.50 We do not recommend restricting the availability of postal voting in Great Britain. The impact on the overwhelming majority of electors who find postal voting a convenient and secure method of voting would not be proportionate to potential integrity benefits”

Another is false registration of occupants. 2014-15 changes have all but eliminated this “5.12…Under the system of Individual Electoral Registration (IER), which will be introduced in Great Britain from June 2014, it will be made much harder to create fictitious electoral register entries which could be used to commit absent voting fraud.
5.13 All electors who currently vote by post will need to be registered individually (by providing their National Insurance number and date of birth for verification against DWP records, or after having their existing register entry confirmed against DWP data in summer 2014) in order to retain their ability to vote by post. If they have not been registered to vote individually by spring 2015, they will not be sent a postal vote at the scheduled May 2015 elections and would only be able to vote in person at a polling station.”

NI and the history with electoral fraud makes the situation there different to England, Scotland and Wales. People in NI still talk about voting early and often so I don’t think the use of ID here can be used as an argument to prove it’s needed elsewhere or would not impact on certain groups to vote because of lack of ID.

How? Who could get your card?