Photo ID to vote is a flagrant cladding attack

[Pireck]

You will need photo ID to vote in the general election this year. This won't be a problem for me personally as I have it, but many of the people where I grew up are too poor to drive or travel abroad. Many people in this country don't have valid photo ID, and they shouldn't have to to shell out a significant amount of money they likely don't have in order to cast their vote. An absolutely flagrant attack on the poor and otherwise deprived.

The title is supposed to read classist, not cladding.

Said bus pass isn’t accepted when trying to deal with tax issues online. We tried.

In that case younger voters will have the photo ID they all have to buy alcohol. Many receiving benefits will have bus passes too.

It is still a ridiculous idea.

Most of Europe has voter ID without an issue.

They also have a proper PR voting system - that needs addressing first.

Do none of these refuse collectors, suppressed supermarket workers and nurses ever get a five minute break? You’re being ridiculous.

Not really relevant is it?

Most of Europe has ID cards.

And they have a cultural resonance here that is proving to be enduring, and which is deeply unpopular.

It takes a couple of minutes to register for the voter ID document. Why would you not? I also find it hard to believe that people genuinely walk around with no ID - a provisional licence is only £34.

It really hasn't. Free voter ID card - sorted.

This was brilliant. I am absolutely opposed to the change. It was blatantly done to make it harder for young people to vote but failed miserably. This lot of Tories are so corrupt they didn't try and hide it.
It was older people who forgot their ID or didn't know about it and then got turned away at the polls and many didn't come back.

Just so people know you can use expired ID as well. So if you have an out of date passport etc.

It's made it harder.

If you have ID, that's fine. No effort. You have it
If you don't have it, you have to get it.

So it's made it harder compared to if you already have it. It requires you to do something.

They have made it easy for older people. They have made it harder for others as they have to actually do something to make it happen.

I agree that people can get the ID. But older people generally don't have to as the Government have said that a lot of their photo ID is acceptable

For some reason

Local elections 2023: Voter ID backfired on Tories, says Rees-Mogg - BBC News

'They have made it harder for others as they have to actually do something to make it happen.' Heaven forfend.

People have to 'do something' in all sorts of areas of their lives. They have to 'do something' to obtain a passport or a driving licence - or are you suggesting young people won't bother spending 5 minutes obtaining voter ID because it's not a fun thing like going on holiday or learning to drive?

I think it’s telling that some ID for older people is acceptable but not similar for younger people. The tories know which demographics vote for them. We could argue about whether certain groups will get it together to vote but I think the motive behind introducing ID requirements is more interesting. Since this doesn’t address postal voting and the amount of even alleged fraud at polling stations is so minimal I seriously doubt this is anything to do with safeguarding elections and more to do with tories trying to suppress votes. I hope they’re wrong but at the last elections with photo ID there were reports people were turned away and never came back.

Maybe it’s because student bus passes are issued by local bus companies and not Uk government/devolved governments? Railcards are not accepted ID for voting purposes either.

I’m a pensioner without a passport. I do have a bus pass and a driving licence. Doesn’t your mum have either of those?

A student bus pass isn't a government document.

You can get a free voter ID document. If you choose not to do that, that's on you.

It's the type of thing someone like me might not get around to doing, I am not feckless or lazy what I am is tired. I am caring for a disabled adult child, I am working full time in retail for not much over the minimum wage for a boss who thinks it's unprofessional to sit down at any point. I get an unpaid 30 minutes for lunch which is the only time I get to sit down, during this time I also have to make any calls that can only be done during office hours.

At the end of the day I am exhausted and my back aches. I go home and make dinner or my daughter will not eat. I also make lunch for us both for the next day and tidy the house. I then go to bed.

On my days off I clean the house and do the admin/phone calls for my daughter. I cannot do these on my lunch break as everyone needs my daughter to give permission before they speak to me as she is technically an adult. Sometimes things get forgotten as I am constantly mentally and physically exhausted. Fuck you for thinking people like me must be lazy and feckless, you have no fucking idea.

It seriously took me less than 3 minutes to do this online. Via my phone. Was posted to me in a week. I'm not even poor, but my last passport ran out years ago and I dont want to renew just yet. And I have an old paper driving licence.

Add in postal votes and most people will manage.

As to if its a good thing or not, I'm in the no camp. I detest the whole idea and think there are better ways. But until we get a better way we are stuck with this.

Presumably everyone manages to complete the electoral roll form that comes every year?

The fact that you found it easy is neither here nor there. Plenty of people won’t find it as easy, or will forget, or will not find the time.

We aren’t stuck with this - there is no significant voter fraud that needs tackling.

The minimal there is is related to postal voting, which requires no proof of identity.

An expensive (£180m) solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.

Classic Tories, always failing.

I’d understand OPs post if we were a country with low passport ownership eg Peru though I believe they have ID cards. Over 85% of people in the uk have passports that’s a really high number. There are other options like the free voter id. Or just do postal voting l haven’t done a physical vote in years.

As long as the photo still looks like you, yes you can use these.

There are plenty of people who don’t have the required ID or will simply forget it on the day.

The bigger issues are that:

• it is solving a problem that doesn’t exist
• it’s a gerrymandering exercise by the cruelling party
• it’s horribly expensive
• nothing should be put in the way of people voting; it should be as simple as possible

Loads of threads on here about how internet savvy all the young are, only using phones for everything and how the old people are stopping progress because they don't use the internet, then suddenly all the young become internet incapable when they have to get voter ID or a postal vote

We are stuck with this for now. Probably for some time, I don't see it in labour's manifesto to change it.

I never said it was easy, I had to take a selfie, which I have never done. Despite that it still took less than 3 minutes.

You literally take selfie, fill out form, press send.
So for those whom selfies are normal, itll take them less time than me.

The local libraries are set up to help too, assuming you can find one open, and my local council state you can go to them in their offices and sort it online via them.

Pretty sure the post offices also will help.

I dont want anyone to miss out on voting, and obviously some will, which is a shame. I'd prefer that work id cards and similar were accepted, but as yet, they are not. I cant change that alone, I wrote to my MP last election about this.

There are plenty of people who don’t have the required ID or will simply forget it on the day.

and yet they all managed to complete the electoral roll form and remembered to go and vote.