ID - Is this the way it is supposed to work?

[AlderGirl]

I mentioned this on someone else’s thread, but I want to explore it more thoroughly. This happened at both our local Council elections in May and at the GE yesterday. Same election official as well. She was standing by the door, talking to someone else - presumably another official. She asks to see my ID. I show it to her. I then move over to the queue for my ballot paper. Meanwhile the ID official continues her conversation. Eventually I orally give my name and address to another official and collect my voting slip. The two procedures were completely unjoined up and the ID official had no oversight when I gave my name & address. Frankly I could have given the details of the woman who lives next door to the ballot officer. Is this the way the ID process worked at your polling station and if so what is the point?

Not my experience. The two officials were sitting together: one asks for id, checks it and crosses name off list (small village) other official checks this being done and hands out the ballot paper.

No mine were sat next to each other and gave a nod to the other once they heard that I'd said the address they were reading.

No it’s not the way I issued votes when I have been a poll clerk. I would have expected the polling station inspector to have picked up on this.

Our polling station had an additional official in the queueing area this year checking ID, nothing to do with the two officials issuing ballot papers - she was just there to make sure people actually had valid ID before they got to the desk so that the queue wasn't held up by people who hadn't bought it/hadn't bought the right thing having to have it explained to them or arguing with the desk officers.

It was messed uo where we voted this time. (Locals were done differently.)

No crosschecking of the polling card and the ID / knocking off the list / no communication between the 2. Makes it seem totally pointless

I would have thought they were just checking you had the right sort of ID, not checking you against the list, someone else to do that when you pick up your voting slip

My point is that there was no connection between the two so what was the point?

No, the one checking the ids and the one checking the addresses sat next to each other when I voted.

@AlderGirl they obviously weren’t doing it right! Surely there is a set procedure to follow

They didn't ask for mine, it was in my hand when I gave them my polling card but no one looked at it.

I used a voter authority certificate as id, it is just a fancy piece of A4 paper. The person at the table who I showed it to looked at the picture but the name and address is on the other side of the paper and she didn't look at that side.

When I voted, the ID check was first then I was crossed off the list of voters and the third person handed me a ballot paper and asked for verbal confirmation from the first person that I had valid ID.

At my polling station the first clerk asked for my name and address and looked at my ID. She then crossed me off a list and read out a number to the second clerk sat next to her who crossed me off another list and handed me my ballot paper.

Officials sitting together here. They nearly made a mistake though and marked me off as something else - stopped them just in time!

Two sitting next to each other cross checked my ID and address. I was then asked for my Polling card, which I had taken with me at my husband's insistence because it always says YOU DO NOT NEED TO BRING YOUR CARD WITH YOU written on it. They used the Polling card to check me off against the official list and then I was given my ballot paper.

So fairly thorough. Also lots of posters up reminding you about ID.

Officials sitting next to each other here, chatting away with each other. I didn't have my polling card on me. I gave them my name and address. One crossed me off, the other handed me my ballot paper. Neither of them looked at my ID... or even looked up at me. I thought how easy it would have been to go back later with the previous tenants' polling cards which came here.