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.

People are madly over burdened with admin now. Apps for everything, universal credit journals, self booking nhs appointments, self checkouts. I get burnt out with it all- I grew up with tech. My mum just can’t be doing with it mostly. You can’t make rules that effectively bar less able people from proper access to democracy .

Crack on if.you think it's a joke, by all means.
I obviously mean the average person who is more on the disadvantaged side.

There will be many people who will find they can't vote because they don't have ID. But my point is that for every 1 person from a middle.class background who simply forgets they needed it, there'll be 10 people from disadvantaged backgrounds who for whatever reason weren't able to secure photo ID I'm the first place.

I'm sure there are many people who will be happy that only those with secure lives who engage with the media regularly due to easy Internet access and have a wealth of education, support and privilege will be able to vote. Who cares about those with more struggles, who already face barriers to being heard? Actually you might be onto something. Maybe it is better if only those from stable backgrounds are heard. Who needs a true democracy after all.

How are the ymore over burdened?

• apps for everything; like banking where you can pay a bill in seconds v going in branch etc
• Self booking appointments - gives you greater choice
• Self checkouts - faster for most people who are just nipping in for a sandwich and a can of coke or eggs and bread

People have MUCH more spare time today than any previous generations, it’s almost like we use it to complain more

You mean that they need to actually do something by a deadline?

This has been advertised everywhere for ages and is a great way to prevent ballot fraud.

Your betting sounds a lot like it rests on your prejudices against the poor. Don't worry though, a lot of.them won't be getting a say this time around.

A lot.of.them never go away though, or they'd have a passport. A lot.of them don't qualify for benefits. So bear that in mind.

It's a blatant exercise in disenfranchisement, purportedly to solve the next to non-existent "problem" of personation.

Yes, you can apply for a voter certificate, or a postal ballot, but a VC still requires you to download, print off and fill out an application, and take and submit a suitable photo.

The point is to add barriers, and reduce the instance of people who view voting as nothing more than a "I'll pop down today at some point" exercise.

SOME bus passes can be used, those issued to over 60's, but oddly enough, those issued to young people can not. Ask yourself who the over 60's are far more likely to vote for, and the motivation for this risible, gerrymandering bollocks becomes more apparent.

Er no, you crack on love.

You are just trying to dig yourself out of a hole, because you didn't realise you could register for free for photo ID, hence your original post being all about it, being too expensive, or people not driving or taking holidays.

Nice back pedal, but it hasn't worked, if people want to vote they will register. If they don't they won't.

Excuses…
As soon as someone pointed out that it’s actually available free for the asking, you immediately switch to “but it’s a hassle to apply for”.
If these people can take the time to vote, they can take the time to apply online for ID.

The non-existent problem of ballot fraud, which doesn't need prevented in the first place.

Well presumably these super keen voters have been outside, read the signs/posters, listened to radio, podcasts, watched TV, been to a polling stations for local elections where they turned them away if they didn't have ID, don't live under a rock.it really isn't that hard for them to get Photo id.

If they're bright enough and engaged in media enough to know there's a general election going on,they know about id.

'These feckless and lazy people are the ones nursing your sick relatives in hospital, removing your refuse and picking.your groceries in your supermarkets. They are already overworked and underpaid, and now they have another way their voices are being suppressed.'

Overworked and underpaid they most probably are, but justifying people not being able to spend 5 minutes online applying for and ID card by the nature of their job when most probably spend far more than that aimlessly surfing the web every day is ridiculous.

Their voices are not being suppressed by the requirement for voter ID. The UK is quite unusual in Europe in it's late adoption of voter ID.

@Teacupsandrollups 👏👏

I still don't understand how people get around with no ID at all.

I imagined there would be some sort of free ID, but the majority of.people will be relying.on ID they already have. So it's a concession that the government have provided it.

My point still stands that the more actions that need to be taken before a vote, the less likely people will be able to vote.

I don't mind if.you csny understand this point, just as long as you have heard it.

How can all those people working these hard jobs of looking after our relatives and making sure our environments are being kept clean from rubbish be seen as lazy 🙄

it’s once again the usual patronising lefty left who seem to carry these ideas of the working class being helpless 🙄

Apparently it has affected older people who are more likely to vote in person and who may not have the correct ID.

Younger people are less likely to vote but are probably more likely to vote by post - assuming they are registered.

Of course the Government have also been sneaky with students and voting - and changed the rules about Universities registering students

‘Left without a voice’: October general election could leave students in UK unable to vote | General elections | The Guardian

They also say that an October election – potentially just two or three weeks after freshers’ week in many university towns – would not leave local councils enough time to put many thousands of new student addresses on the electoral register.
Jeremy Hunt hints at October election in spending review remarks

Paul Greatrix, registrar of the University of Nottingham, told the Observer that if an election was called for mid-October he did not think the data could be processed in time. “You could easily end up with hundreds of thousands of students being disenfranchised and left without a voice,” he said.

Of course the Tories did this - the people impacted are conveniently the ones who are much less likely to vote for them.

It is like the Lib Dem’s going on and on about proportional representation all the time.

If Labour get in do you think that they will abolish it?

Yes quite.

I knew I needed photo ID for the election last year. I knew it only took 5 mins to apply. Did I apply? No. Not because I'm feckless and lazy, but because I didn't have the mental spoons to do it. I was too busy keeping everyone fed, clean and alive while being a single mum with severe mh issues as well as AuDHD.

Hopefully I'll manage it this year as my mh is a bit better.

I haven't used ID for years.

I don't drive, haven't been on holiday out of the country for ten years, look over 25 so haven't needed it for purchasing alcohol etc. My bank accounts etc were set up years ago and Ive never applied for a mortgage or anything which might require it.

The voting cards for the local election had a bit inside explaining how to get ID , which ID they allow and about the postal voting procedure. I'm not a fan of this current administration, but you can't deny that it's well thought through. There is a long list of things they will accept as ID.
I suppose anyone who can't read may struggle , but for those who can it's all pretty much straight forwards by the looks of it.

I am the poor.

I'm working class. No education past High School. No one in my family has ever gone to Uni.

I don't drive.
I don't have a passport.
I am living on benefits due to illness.
I'm in social housing.

But I'm not a fucking idiot. I ordered a provisional licence so I have photo I'd generally.

And I'm going to order a free voting ID.

This is not classest.
You should have to have photo ID to vote.

Poor people are not idiots. They can apply for a free ID.

I actually find it really OFFENSIVE that you're making out people on a low income cannot be trusted to do such a simple task.

And I'll bet anything YOU are not one of the people you believe you are championing, I bet you have ID but you're just being outraged on behalf of people that really haven't asked you to be.

Oh yes as if this government will want to stop older voters 🙄

and students not being able to have the correct id to vote fuck me if they are able to get themselves into university I expect them to be able to get themselves the correct id to vote

I agree
Some or the posts on this thread reek of privilege- privilege of time

Some evidence

Voter ID - House of Commons Library (parliament.uk)

Electoral Commission report

Report on the May 2023 local elections in England | Electoral Commission

The UK Government should review the current list of accepted forms of ID to identify any additional documents that could be included to improve accessibility for voters.
This should focus on forms of ID that would support people who are least likely to have documents on the current list, including disabled people and those who are unemployed.
Any changes to the list of accepted forms of ID should be confirmed in legislation in time for details to be included in public awareness materials and activities, and in guidance for polling station staff ahead of polling day.

The UK Government should explore whether the deadline for Voter Authority Certificate applications could be moved closer to polling day, to extend its availability for voters who do not have any other form of accepted ID.
The current deadline of six working days before polling day is significantly earlier than the Government’s original policy intention – as set out in a policy paper
(Opens in new window) published during the passage of the Elections Bill – which was for the deadline to be the day before polling day.

Electoral Registration Officers and their staff must still be able to process applications and issue Voter Authority Certificates to voters in time for them to be able to vote, alongside other essential duties taking place in the days before polling day. Any potential changes to application deadlines must therefore take into account the operational impact and workability of a later deadline, also recognising the level of dependency on printers and postal services to deliver Certificates to voters.

The UK Government should enable registered voters who do have accepted ID to make an attestation at their polling station on behalf of someone who does not have any form of accepted ID (also referred to as ‘vouching’).
The voter ID requirement currently assumes that people either have an accepted form of ID or are sufficiently motivated to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate by the deadline. This means that voting is effectively not accessible for anyone without ID who misses the application deadline or only decides they want to vote on polling day (or close to polling day).

In the limited and exceptional circumstances where a voter does not have access to any other form of accepted ID, allowing attestation would still provide a safeguard by requiring a formal link to a named elector who has had their own identity verified. Attestations are already a legitimate option for verifying identity in other parts of the electoral process, for example in applications to register to vote and applications for Voter Authority Certificates.

The Government responded to the Electoral Commission by saying:

"Get lost"

Government response to Electoral Commission report on May elections - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If these people can take the time to vote, they can take the time to apply online for ID

They don't even need to do it online; a postal application's available for those without internet

Failing that they can visit the local Electoral Registration Office (usually in council buildings) where staff will provide forms, assist with filling them in and even take your ruddy photo - though probabl;y even that wouldn't be enough for those to whom everything's someone else's fault