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.

It's a 10 minute job to get a free voter I'd.
Even if they don't have Internet they can do it at the library.

Heritage as in those allowed to vote in the UK.

And students will be stopped from voting if the Tories call an election in October, a few weeks after term begins and all the students move to new parts of the country where they are registered.

It takes time to register - and the timescale is determined by factors outside the control of the students, so no matter how much they care about democracy, if the council doesn’t pull their finger out, they won’t get on the electoral register in time.

You are only focussed on ID, we are trying to explain the other way to disenfranchise people - not registering them at all / in time.

it is not nonsense, I have seen it. And others on this thread have experienced it. It is utterly ridiculous that noone needs to prove their identity to vote. of course there is rampant fraud - there is nothing to prevent it

Looking at the list of acceptable documents, YANBU OP, it's obvious which groups they are trying to make voting as easy as possible for, when you have the below as a list of acceptable forms of ID:

•	Passport issued by the UK, any of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, a British Overseas Territory, an EEA state or a Commonwealth country 
•	Driving licence issued by the UK, any of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, or an EEA state
•	A Blue Badge
•	Older Person’s Bus Pass funded by the UK Government
•	Disabled Person’s Bus Pass funded by the UK Government
•	60+ London Oyster Photocard funded by Transport for London
•	Freedom Pass
•	Scottish National Entitlement Card issued for the purpose of concessionary travel (including a 60+, disabled or under 22s bus pass)
•	60 and Over Welsh Concessionary Travel Card
•	Disabled Person’s Welsh Concessionary Travel Card
•	Senior SmartPass issued in Northern Ireland
•	Registered Blind SmartPass or Blind Person’s SmartPass issued in Northern Ireland
•	War Disablement SmartPass issued in Northern Ireland
•	60+ SmartPass issued in Northern Ireland
•	Half Fare SmartPass issued in Northern Ireland
•	Identity card bearing the Proof of Age Standards Scheme hologram
•	Biometric immigration document
•	Ministry of Defence Form 90
•	National identity card issued by an EEA state
•	Electoral Identity Card issued in Northern Ireland

If you don't have acceptable photo ID, you can apply for a free voter ID document, known as a Voter Authority Certificate

What library? There are barely any left due to this current government.
If you don't agree that more tasks = fewer people voting then there is no point participating in this discussion.

Ah, anecdata. Of course.

And did you report the widespread voter fraud you witnessed?

How about some actual data? Some research? A peer reviewed study?

No? Just nonsense then.

50.3 million usual residents held one passport (84.4%) and 1.26 million held multiple passports (2.1%)

40 m driving licence holders.

Assuming massive overlap... And how many adults in the UK?

Info there.

www.electoralcommission.org.uk/research-reports-and-data/our-reports-and-data-past-elections-and-referendums/voter-id-may-2023-local-elections-england-interim-analysis

'And students will be stopped from voting if the Tories call an election in October, a few weeks after term begins and all the students move to new parts of the country where they are registered.'

Students can register at home and at their university address (but only vote from one, obviously). What's stopping them registering at home and getting a postal vote?

Not even just that. DD constantly gets ID'd to buy paracetamol! Students NEED id. Also most of the students I know don't register in their uni town anyway. They can't be arsed. If they can be arsed, they vote back home via postal vote. Ditto all the old folk, all use postal vote.

it is not nonsense, I have seen it. I have reported it. Nothing was done because they returning officers were overwhelmed with it. And in our ward it has affected out result at least once. It is absolutely insane that this has been allowed to continue unchecked, we are supposed to be a democracy

Oh do give it a rest, you are now sounding ridiculous.

For this to be helpful, you’ll need to get stats for licences / passports held by eligible voters.

There are 67m people in the UK, but not everyone is enfranchised.

So it could be only a few million don’t have suitable ID or it could be a few thousand. The location of those without ID could render their vote largely immaterial, or they could be the difference between a Labour or Tory MP.

The point isn’t how many people will be disenfranchised by not having ID, the point is that no one should ever be disenfranchised for not having ID. Otherwise we don’t have democracy.

You will need to provide some proof of this because the official records don’t show any significant voter fraud, much less any that has affected the result.

Also, Biden didn’t steal the election in case you’re labouring under that misapprehension, too.

I have done all of those without photo ID.

What library? There are barely any left due to this current government.
If you don't agree that more tasks = fewer people voting then there is no point participating in this discussion.

People will do the tasks if they are sufficiently motivated to do the tasks. If, for example, all welfare benefits were stopped until the recipient did whatever was required to get their free photo ID then you can bet they'd get their free photo ID.

If they can't be bothered to get it in order to vote then chances are they wouldn't be bothered to vote full stop, with or without the ID.

nothing beyond youthful apathy / exuberance / forgetfulness / overwhelm / alcohol / weed / anxiety / everything else that gets in the way of being organised.

You seem to be missing the point, so let me spell it out.

WE SHOULD MAKE VOTING AS EASY AS POSSIBLE FOR EVERYONE.

Barriers = lower turnout.

These barriers can be the weather, distance to polling station, dog not allowed at polling station, opening times, length of queue…it doesn’t matter. Voting should be made as easy as possible.

Voter ID is not addressing the limited voter fraud that has been identified (postal); it is gerrymandering designed to disenfranchise non-traditional Tory voters.

Nope. If I walk past the polling station on my way home, I could pop in to vote. But if I don’t have my ID, I probably won’t go back out once I get in.

That is just one example
of how voter ID could stop someone voting.

Now times that by a million equally valid reasons why the extra step of needing ID will stop someone exercising their democratic right.

You might think, ‘well fuck them for being lazy or not that arsed’ but I think ‘how fucking dare the government put unnecessary barriers between a person and their democratic right.

I dont need to provide you with any sort of proof. I am giving you information, If you wish to disregard it, your problem, not mine. Plenty of other people reading this know full well what the reality is,

Meh, I'm torn.

On the one hand I'm very sceptical about why this has been brought in.

On the other, I've always needed ID to vote in Ireland and NI and it's never seemed to cause problems here so I can't get worked up about it.

No they will not be stopped there

they may not put the effort in to register to vote from where they have lived before or their new home but that is a choice

I’ve changed holidays, dragged myself out to vote when I was unwell and supported my nanny when she struggled to walk (she wanted to in person) to vote because to myself and my family it’s of upmost importance

to others it might not be as important but people still have to make a decision that it is important enough to themselves to vote

Many people are simply not that interested

lol. Ok.

So it’s settled that you’re talking nonsense and don’t have any data / proof / evidence.

Your bar is quite high - you will do a lot to cast your vote.

Other people have lower bars and won’t do as much.

That doesn’t make their vote less important than yours, though.

You don’t get to decide what level of difficulty is appropriate for someone to overcome to cast their vote.

Also, what are you not understanding about the timescale of registration not being in their control?

If they move to a new town, the process of registering to vote takes some time. This timescale is determined by how quickly the council process can be done.

So it’s not about them ‘putting the effort in’.

God. Perhaps disenfranchisement is the way forward. I vote for a comprehension test before anyone gets a voter ID.

I know my bar is high I have acknowledged this

i have not implied my vote is more important

simply fact is many people are not interested in voting some because they cba others because they feel the two main parties offer the same old broken promises, others feel it’s a waste of their time and some just simply are not interested

and that is absolutely fine

It is fine not to vote.

What isn’t fine is a government deliberately and calculating disenfranchising its people by making it harder for them.

And that is what is happening here.

You either don’t understand it or don’t care, but the Tories admitted it themselves.

https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/voter-id-is-a-gerrymandering-scheme-admits-jacob-rees-mogg/#:~:text=Jacob%20Rees%2DMogg%20said%3A,on%20voter%20ID%20for%20elections.”