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.

Photo ID for voting is free from your local council.

The UK (N Ireland excepted) is the last European nation to require photo ID for voting.

YABU.

Don't believe everything you read in the Guardian OP.

Which is different to being on the voting register - you do understand that you can have all the ID to vote but if you turn up at a polling station and your name is not on the list, you don't get to vote?

Which is what the link I posted about was? I guess you read it before reacting - or did you just react without thinking?

Young adults have a choice to vote

many choose not to or simply cba as there is something better to do that they don’t want to miss out on(maybe an election party) that’s their choice its nothing new

I’ve always voted but many people I know choose not to then moan

it’s called democracy it’s better than the alternative

Of course I do I am not stupid

and I expect a student to know this too

AGREED!
I'm really pissed off by the OP's faux concern rather than the general issues surrounding voter ID in the UK.

Also OP doesn't seem to realise the democracy isn't just about voting it's about being engaged and informed etc enough to make a decision. People don't just cast their ballots based on a coin flip they have to know a bit about who they're voting for. If these people have the mental bandwidth and intellectual capacity to do that they sure as hell can fill out a form that takes 5 minutes.

In Australia, voting is compulsory. It's on a Saturday. Should it be compulsory here or is that too much?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-23810381

Pensioner bus passes are acceptable photo ID so I suspect the number of pensioners without either a passport, driving licence, blue badge or bus pass is relatively low.

Any young person with a proof of age card is also covered. Many young people have some photo ID so they can get into pubs and clubs.

If voter id was limited to passport and driving licence you might have a point - but it isn’t.

Exactly an example of how this is specifically designed to make life harder for voters who are less likely to vote Tory.

It doesn't matter that lots of people have ID or that it's 'easy' to get free voter ID. It will still mean a certain group will be less likely to vote. And as previously mentioned, voter fraud has been shown to he a miniscule problem so this is a totally unnecessary 'solution'. But it appeals to Tory voters who onky want 'the right sort of people' voting. Not those dodgy second language speakers or benefit claiming layabouts.

If you know people without ID please please encourage or actively help them get it, and vote. Last election a friend canvassed outside a primary school and was appalled at how many young mums said they didn't really know anything about politics and weren't going to vote.

It’s also to do with age - you’ll see passes for older people are included as ID whereas uni ID’s are excluded. I don’t think it’s up for debate that it’s a discriminatory policy designed to exclude people who wouldn’t typically vote Tory. Voter ID fraud doesn’t exist. Don’t worry - Labour will abolish it for next time

Also OP doesn't seem to realise the democracy isn't just about voting it's about being engaged and informed etc enough to make a decision

you have decided this. It’s not fact

So when you said:

"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"

And

"I didn’t mentioned photo id I mentioned id to vote cakeorwine"

When I was talking about the electoral register and you were discussing "Students getting ID to vote", then clearly you weren't being stupid or missing the point of the article about COUNCILS not having enough time to register students in their accommodation - which is more difficult because of a rule change bought about by Government.

It's free to get if you don't have any other form of ID. The problem is that some can't be bothered. We should have all had ID cards long ago, just like many other countries. It's a good thing.

Proof of age cards are included. Many pubs and clubs require photo ID to get in or buy drinks.

Yes I am aware of compulsory voting in Australia

No I do not think voting should be compulsory

Move it to the weekend people will still make excuses why they didn’t vote

Yes allowing pensioner bus passes but not student cards was a flagrant attempt at gerrymandering but not all pensioners have bus passes: it depends on mobility and location, it's an issue that affects a proportion of the very elderly, rather than sixty-somethings.

I'm sure that most octogenarians do have ID, but the ones who don't
a) would (on average) find it more difficult to go on line and sort out an alternative than the equivalent twenty-something
b) would (on average) have been more likely to vote than the equivalent - so it makes more of an impact on the polls

But older people can use a much wider variety of photo ID to vote. Bus passes for example.

However student ID cards, which many young people have and are free, cannot be used.

it’s almost as if they don’t want young people to vote.

Part of the issue is that the data on the impact of Voter ID is not well known - as people were only counted as "Being turned away" if they actually went into the polling station and tried to vote.

If they were in the queue and realised they did not have ID, then they were not counted at all - not if they went to get it and then came back or if they did not return.

So the data quality on the impact is poor.

There seems to be different debates here.

1. This policy WAS designed to exclude people who don’t vote Conservative. This was found by an independent panel.
2. whether the tactic worked is a different debate - at first proof of age cards weren’t included but the government was forced to as the policy was deemed overtly discriminatory and illegal
3. sometimes, even the tiniest of margins matter in some constituencies

You haven’t addressed the point about Proof of Age cards. Many young people will have photo ID because the get regularly asked for it in shops, pubs and clubs. Student discount cards like Totum offer PASS accredited proof of age card.

@ChazsBrilliantAttitude I addressed it above. It wasn’t included at first. They were forced to

So if you're a non drinking, non driving student who does not want to go abroad and don't want a postal vote, you had better get a voter authority certificate.

Cakeorwine this has been discussed many times on political podcasts

and the point is people need to be organised and prioritise

the US election is going to have a far bigger impact on the choice of when the election shall be than a few students

no party apart from when Corbyn led Labour or Nick Clegg blatantly lied relies much on student votes

It's ok to say you reacted without reading a link.

People do. It's their System One doing that.

But it is there now so it’s a solved problem. The OP has started this thread on the basis that voter id is an insurmountable barrier when in reality many people already have qualifying ID and a free option exists for those who don’t.

I am not a fan of voter id but I don’t think it is, in its current form, causing the level of disenfranchisement the OP appears to be suggesting.

We don't really know the level it is causing or will cause - the Electoral Commission recommended changes to the way data is collected on the impact but the Government said "Maybe"!

"The voter identification legislation ensured monitoring data was collected in polling stations at the local elections held in May 2023 for the first rollout of the voter identification requirements. The legislation also requires monitoring data to be collected at the next two UK Parliamentary general elections. The rationale behind this was to strike a balance of proportionality.

The collection of data is vital in allowing robust and reliable evaluation of the impact and delivery of the measures. However, the government received feedback from the electoral sector during development of the legislation that data collection in polling stations would increase the burden on local authorities to deliver the voter identification requirements.

The government therefore support the Commission’s view that ongoing data collection at future polls would be beneficial but takes the position that this should remain at the discretion of the returning officer, where they deem it appropriate and manageable to do so. We will therefore work with the Electoral Commission and the electoral sector to identify the best means of ensuring that robust data is collected in polling stations at future polls, beyond what is required by the voter identification legislation.

The government is already working with the Electoral Commission to refine the process of data collection to ensure its clarity and efficiency for polling station staff, and will seek feedback from the sector to ensure that improvements can be made for future elections."