To remind you that no photo ID = no right to vote.

[SusiePevensie]

Get ID here: www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate

I've no idea what you are humming about.. Is it the bees in your bonnet?

If you don't have accepted photo ID, you can apply for a free voter ID document, which is known as a Voter Authority Certificate.

www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/voter-id/applying-a-voter-authority-certificate

But if the millions who are eligible all apply it will take years to process them.

Then you go to your council's website and sort yourself out free voter ID.

This happened to me. And they just told me not to worry, someone must have just ticked the wrong address. So I'm happy to show ID. If you're that interested in voting, it's not that hard to get. After a couple of elections, people will wonder what the fuss was about. Postal voting is more of a problem, I would have thought.

How? Paper licenses have been dead for years and years....you have to renew your license....don't you? Or am I going mad!

But that hasn't happened, has it? Most peoole do have photo ID. Many of those who don't, wouldn't vote anyway as is reflected in the national statistics.

Yes, it's expected to, and anybody who has trouble filling in forms, or has a life in flux at the moment such as women fleeing domestic abuse.

It seems simple. Exclude the lower class from elections.
That will increase the percentage vote of those with money.
I wonder what political party thought of that.
I do think that scrapping the photo ID and putting the date of birth on the electoral register would stop most voter fraud.
If my date of birth (22 March 1947) was on the electoral roll it would be unlikely that anyone under 60 could pretend to be me and vote using my name

If you haven't moved house since paper licences were phased out then your old one remains valid. Obviously that applies to increasingly few people.

I have been a poll clerk many times and I work in social care so have a good level of interaction with disenfranchised/vulnerable people, in my opinion the people who would struggle to sort themselves out with ID just to vote probably wouldn't bother voting anyway. I think the biggest issue this time around will be people who have ID but forget to bring it, it will take a few elections to catch on. I also don't think voter fraud is a particularly big issue (in terms of people falsely claiming to be someone else and the polling station) but it does seem a bit old fashioned just giving your name with no checking going on. Many younger people and foreign people automatically hand over their driving licences because they expect to have to show ID.

Nope. I got my paper driving licence in the 1970s and it's never been renewed. I still don't have a photo card licence. If I do renew it for change of address, etc, then I'll need to update to a photo card.

Good thread OP. I normally consider myself well informed on the sort of thing, but it entirely passed me by, until the council emailed me to ask if I’ll work at the next elections. The email contained a warning about this, not least that they expect the job to be harder (refusing people if they don’t have ID) and therefore they’re worried that many existing poll workers won’t want to do it.

Who is the "lower class"?

@MarshaMelrose

"According to earlier government research, close to 2 million voters do not possess photo ID that has a recognisable picture of them, as is required under the new law. At the current rate it would take eight years to issue the documents to all those who could need them."

"The Electoral Commission has previously written to the government saying the timetable meant the local elections could not be conducted in a “fully secure, accessible and workable” manner."

"A 2021 study by the Electoral Commission found that the proportion of potential voters without usable ID was especially high among more disadvantaged groups, such as 11% for those who were unemployed, and 8% among people with a disability."

amp.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jan/31/only-10000-people-in-uk-have-applied-for-government-issued-voter-id

Ahhh that makes sense. Yes my paper got replaced with a photocard when I moved and now I have to renew my photocard every 10 years which might be why I was confused. Thanks 🤗

@verdantverdure But it hasn't happened. The EC are saying what could happen. But the govt have been warning this for years and still people havent registered. They can't just keep waiting until everyone gets round to doing it. This will make people get on with it...or not.

It's a new law. It only comes into force on May 4th 2023.

It's not a free and fair democratic election if millions of people are excluded from voting, is it?

Thanks for this thread. I had NO idea this was something I needed to do. Because contrary to what many people think - we havent all got a passport or a driving licence. I have no real need for either.

How will this stop all the postal vote fraud in the cities?

About 5 million people have neither of those. Mostly female, mostly urban dwellers and either under 25 or over 50.

It's a new law. It only comes into force on May 4th 2023.

That's when it becomes law but it's been trailed by the govt for years and, as you've seen on here, some people have already got the ID without any problems. Of course, if people leave it until the last minute and don't get it in time, they'll lose the vote. Same as with passports. If you leave it too late to apply, you'll lose your holiday. We understand that, so we get our passports in good time. The first time anything is introduced, there are problems. It doesn't mean nothing should change.
It's the local elections. Only a third of peoole vote. This is a good time to introduce it.

No surprise 60+ oyster cards can be used but not oyster cards for anyone younger.

You've only been able to apply for the free voter ID since January 13th 2023.

Those people vote Conservative I guess.