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.

No, because the system we have had in place for a long time has worked well with low risk of fraud. Except by postal vote where apparently the risk is slightly higher.

There have been some posts on this thread by people who have been in or personally are in a position where performing an extra task is burdensome and less likely to be done. Or people like me who have lots of time and are digitally literate enough for it to be easy, but are able to imagine other people's lives and can see how it would be hard for some. This ability to imagine how other people's lives can be different ti's apparently very difficult for many people who have commented, I'm sorry if.you suffer from this.

So you have been proven wrong about having to pay for ID and now finding another excuse. Maybe you would like the vote to come to them as well... oh wait postal 😂

If people are too lazy or incompetent to do the simple things to vote - maybe its best they don't.

It is an idea of the ignorant that people who have very demanding and/or chaotic lives are always able to prioritise anything how they'd like to. And that their choices would be as easy to carry our and someone from a more comfortable background.

We are talking about a country that is supposed to be democratic, not one where increasingly limited groups can vote.

Voting is nothing to do with deserving or not. It’s a right.

😂😂😂 Being disabled on a low income who uses a postal vote, I don't understand how anyone is being hindered? It's really not difficult to vote, should you wish.

It might shock you to learn that not everyone has the exact same life as you, and for some people an extra task is one too many. For others who vote in person, they'll be more likely to simply.forget their ID, and not have the money/ time/energy to go home and come back again.

You can have a proxy as well, as long as they have ID

I imagine only a tiny proportion of the already tiny percentage ( 2-4%) of people in the UK who lack ID will be prevented from voting by the ‘barrier’ imposed by the new rule. Many people who don’t currently have ID will simply choose to get the free voting ID if they want to vote. Those that don’t either are non-voters anyway or disenfranchised by other factors (eg, homeless, domestic control/abuse, illness, SEN, ineligible to vote), and there wouldn’t be any discernible difference to the outcome.

Personally I feel that the requirement to have ID is reasonable and logical. After all, Northern Ireland have had the requirement for years already, to help avoid voter fraud, which is arguably a much bigger ‘wrong’ in this scenario.

If the overall aim is to improve the democratic process, then a more potent strategy would be to find ways to get more people to vote in the first place. Over 1/3 of registered voters don’t vote - mainly because they aren’t interested in politics or haven’t yet found a candidate worth voting for!

@Watchthewindow

Not necessarily incapable ...

Forgetful, busy, lazy, lose things, neurodiverse, can’t be arsed. Many reasons for not having / presenting ID.

None of them good enough to disenfranchise someone.

Yes. And if these people who struggle getting photo ID are already registered to vote, they probably did find that relatively easy, as the form is sent to you, and it's very easy to fill it in and send back. Also, it's possible someone may have done it for them. With photo ID - the onus is on you to chase the I.D. and get a photo done for it, and you pretty much have to have the internet (or know someone who has it!)

I have looked at the form online, and you have to jump through hoops on the online form, and it is quite overwhelming and exhausting. I am neurotypical, and understand most forms and the like, and am quite smart and tech savvy etc, and even I found it a bit of a PITA/long/rambling. Someone who is not I.T. savvy, not neurotypical, doesn't have great literacy skills, struggles with forms etc, will find this form daunting. That's if they have the internet and can actually get access to it!

You can go to your local council to do it, but again, it's overwhelming and exhausting, and frankly a bit of a ballache.

There are some really ignorant and rude comments on here, and some people seem a bit hard of thinking, and don't understand that not everyone is like them, and will struggle to gain photo ID.

@Pireck I do agree with you, and it's a well-documented fact that some people who don't have a drivers licence or passport could be stopped from voting, and that it is prejudiced towards less well-off people. And yes, people with NO photo ID WILL be less likely to vote. I don't know why people have been so hard on you on here, and kudos to you for sticking it out and fighting your corner.

Polling stations are walkable if not postal vote, its really not difficult.

Yes, luckily.pollimg stations are generally.plentiful and easy to get to for most people. Thats not what this thread it about though, it's about the many people will be turned away or not go in the first place when they realise they need photo ID and don't have it.

A person who doesn't drive is likely to have a bus pass. Which can be used as voter ID.

Norn Iron had a particular issue that they addressed with voter ID. That isn't applicable for the rest of the UK win terms of actual data.

I agree a better use of resources would be improving the system overall. A lot of people are advocating adopting systems from other countries - non of them uses FPTP like we do as it's an antiquated pile of shite.

Only if they're a pensioner.

Yes, and that's why I suggested it's best not to make assumptions about this - which unfortunately for your argument includes those about what folk may or may not be able to do

Best, surely, to make support available (countless examples of which have already been given) and leave it for others to decide whether they wish to take it

It's not needed. Occurrences of election fraud are vanishingly rare 🤦‍♂️

This new rule has come in purely to suppress the voices of the downtrodden.

Really? Have you got a hotline into Central Government, and have first-hand knowledge of their dastardly plans to suppress the downtrodden, OP?

there is a list of 18 options for photo ID, plus the free Government gateway option.

Let's stop with the conspiracy theories, not helpful.

Can you apply once for the free Photo ID option and use it multiple times, or is there a restriction on how many times the ID can be used?

Only pensioners bus passes are valid.
Not students, or young adults.

This.

ID has been required in Northern Ireland for decades, the poorest area of the UK.

I'd like to ensue that voting is legitimate.

Pretty sure Jacob Rees-Mogg admitted that was the intention.

Edit: yes, he did.
https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/voter-id-is-a-gerrymandering-scheme-admits-jacob-rees-mogg/

Someone who is not I.T. savvy, not neurotypical, doesn't have great literacy skills, struggles with forms etc, will find this form daunting. That's if they have the internet and can actually get access to it!

Your list of barriers doesn't necessarily apply to one person. Someone with all of those struggles may not have ever voted anyway, or have had to rely on support to do so. most people nowadays have an internet-enabled phone.

Everything in life could be categorised as a ballache, and yes, life is an uphill battle for people with literacy issues (they will struggle with many aspects not just voting), but if you consider what the Government has tried to do, increasing probity and validity of the UK voting system, and offering as many options as possible, it isn't perfect (nothing in life is) but it's reasonably fair.

i say this as someone who has supported people "on the bones of their arse" to quote a much loved MN expression, in the charity work I do, so I'm not just making it up.

I presume you have rushed headlong to campaign against this conspiracy against your democratic rights, via your Parliamentary Rep

https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/take-action/write-to-your-representative/