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AIBU?

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Original poster

Voting ID is a nonsense

217 replies

Cranmer · 04/05/2023 21:01

They asked to see my ID at the polling station door, but I went to the desk and could have said I was anyone. Should they not check it against your name and address, not just randomly look at the picture at the door?

All this does is put people off voting as they can't be bothered to get their passport out the drawer. Grrrrr

OP posts:
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5
wildfirewonder · 05/05/2023 19:02

JudgeRudy · 05/05/2023 18:46

It doesn't seem unreasonable to me to request a Btitish passport to vote in a British election.

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It is completely unreasonable. Loads of people don't have a passport for starters, and people who are here on various visas/other passports have the right to vote in local elections.

Those who are here for work and study are an important part of our workforce and communities.

Wanting to base all voting rights entirely on passport status comes across as racist.

JudgeRudy · 05/05/2023 19:50

pointythings · 05/05/2023 18:55

@JudgeRudy people like me are allowed to vote in local elections because we live locally and pay taxes locally. Taxation, representation and all that.

We can't vote in General Elections because we are not British nationals.
I'm surprised you did not know this. Or perhaps I'm not.

No, I didn't know that. I just assumed it was only British Citizens. Every day is a school day.

pointythings · 05/05/2023 19:51

JudgeRudy · 05/05/2023 19:50

No, I didn't know that. I just assumed it was only British Citizens. Every day is a school day.

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Bloody hell, we really need to teach this stuff properly at school. I mean, I'm a foreigner and I knew it.

JudgeRudy · 05/05/2023 20:15

I'm sure there are lots of people didn't know this. There's probably free milk or something for babies too but I don't know about that either or how many months I need on my passport to travel to Greece...because atm I don't need to. I think it's a case of only so much head space. If I lived in another country I probably would find out though as you have done.

ClareBlue · 05/05/2023 20:23

NoNamesLeft371 · 04/05/2023 21:16

tgat Should be challenged somehow. It clearly states that an Irish passport is acceptable. And the ID isn’t to check if you’re eligible to vote, surely?

https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/voter-id/accepted-forms-photo-id

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Exactly. Irish nationals resident in UK can vote in local elections. Also the ID is specifically to identify you as the person they give the ballot paper to is the same as the person from the electoral register so it needs to be seen at the giving of the ballot paper, when the official stap is made. The ID is nothing to do with your entitlement to vote. More people being disenfranchised through this than ever committed fraud.

TheHateIsNotGood · 05/05/2023 20:33

I also think that knowledge of local councils would be a valuable subject to be covered in education (as well as personal finance, taxes, etc). Very few adults actually really do understand the various 'tiers' of local governance, how not all areas have the same kind of councils, etc and what each council are responsible for.

I'm as guilty of that as anyone else - little did I know way back in time that being a Parish Clerk didn't really mean keeping the books for the local church - otherwise I might not have taken that little job on.

LittleBrenda · 05/05/2023 20:44

JudgeRudy · 05/05/2023 20:15

I'm sure there are lots of people didn't know this. There's probably free milk or something for babies too but I don't know about that either or how many months I need on my passport to travel to Greece...because atm I don't need to. I think it's a case of only so much head space. If I lived in another country I probably would find out though as you have done.

There was subsidised milk in schools through the European Milk Scheme but obviously not any more because of Brexit.

pointythings · 05/05/2023 20:46

I do think if you're going to vote, you should be responsible for ensuring you are reasonably informed about the process.

USPollWorker · 05/05/2023 21:22

pointythings · 05/05/2023 18:01

@USPollWorker the problem is that in the UK, introducing voter ID was a solution to a problem that did not exist. Add to that the fact that the accepted forms of existing ID (i.e. not the new one you could apply for) were heavily skewed towards a demographic that was more likely to vote Conservative and you get optics that are ugly.

What should have happened was that the UK should have introduced a universal ID card, as exists in many countries, and only then gone about introducing voter ID.

I don't disagree. I just thought it might be interesting for people to learn how it's done in the US, without disenfranchising people.

USPollWorker · 05/05/2023 21:24

wildfirewonder · 05/05/2023 18:44

It is factually harder/more time consuming to get a piece of ID than it is to put your name on the register.

Your additional option of if they want to vote in person but don't have ID they can vote a provisional ballot, which will be counted once the supervisor of elections office determines that they are indeed a registered voter is a big differece from the UK system where people are just turned away - the benefit of a written constitution with individual rights!

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There's more to registering to vote than putting your name on the register. You have to prove that you're eligible to vote, ie. you're a citizen and a resident of that state.

pointythings · 05/05/2023 21:54

@USPollWorker I agree, the US model allows for second chances. The current UK model does not.

The things I've read about voter suppression in red states, including use of voter ID restrictions, doesn't quite inspire me with confidence in the US system though.

NEmama · 05/05/2023 22:36

Email address to complain about the farce that is ID.

Absolute opposite of levelling up.

correspondence at levellingup.gov.uk

Kpo58 · 06/05/2023 00:12

Dixiechickonhols · 05/05/2023 12:23

Out of curiosity were you aware you could have applied to council for voter ID?

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Yes, but when I looked into it, it didn't seem simple as it wanted your NI number or various other documents if you didn't know your NI and my brain rather melted.

MistyGreenAndBlue · 06/05/2023 09:16

redspottedmug · 05/05/2023 11:34

I was a PO yesterday. Similar experience - bus passes, driving licences, passports (including EU) and only one govt issue voter ID certificate.

A couple of opinionated men spoiling for an argument about the rights and wrongs. They got ignored.

I did sadly have to refuse 3 voters without ID. They could've returned but didn't bother.

So literally nobody was disenfranchised on my watch, I'm pleased to say.

The rules and guidance were set out clearly and in my view were not open to interpretation. But remember that all poll station staff were new to the rules too, and we do the role once in a blue moon.

No one? Except the three you turned away of course. Who would have voted otherwise presumably - or why bother turning up at all?
Ok then.
I have actually counted, on this small thread alone, 7 instances of voters being turned away and not returning to cast their vote. How many more?

And none of this accounts for those people who knew they had no ID and just didn't bother going at all, but who would have normally gone. There is no way to know how many of these people there are. Saying "everyone at my station had ID" is proof of nothing.

SinnerBoy · 06/05/2023 13:04

JudgeRudy · Yesterday 18:46

It doesn't seem unreasonable to me to request a Btitish passport to vote in a British election.

It was reported quite specifically that Irish passports are a legally valid ID. The polling staff should know exactly what is and isn't.

In 2001, or in any case, Blair's GE after his 1997 win, I was turned away, as I didn't have my polling card. It was only the next day that I found out that they were wrong.

USPollWorker · 06/05/2023 14:33

pointythings · 05/05/2023 21:54

@USPollWorker I agree, the US model allows for second chances. The current UK model does not.

The things I've read about voter suppression in red states, including use of voter ID restrictions, doesn't quite inspire me with confidence in the US system though.

It's far from perfect, that's for sure!

EBearhug · 06/05/2023 23:10

In 2001, or in any case, Blair's GE after his 1997 win, I was turned away, as I didn't have my polling card. It was only the next day that I found out that they were wrong.

I almost never take my polling card with me.

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