the govt is very well aware which section of voters is less likely to be aware of the new requirements and more likely not to have acceptable ID to hand
I think the best part about all this is that the voter ID thing they have introduced is itself *horrifically* open to fraud given all you need is to input your NI number, your registered address, and upload a picture to be sent one. Absolutely no way anyone could get ahold of those kinds of high-level details right…? All this to stop a problem that doesn’t seem to actually exist, at most a dozen or so cases.
Disaster? The Tories don’t see it that way.
Successful voter suppression.
Local election turnouts are very low anyway. This voter suppression will only make them lower.
[deleted]
It’d be in Labour’s interests (not to mention the electorate) to scrap all this, wouldn’t it?
Isn’t this pointing to an as early as possible GE?
Less people voting – presumably Labour voters
Less impact of the ever worsening economy
So a smaller defeat in the end from which it will be easier to rebound?
At a guess, the low uptake of Voter Authority Certificates will be a combination of a lack of need (something like 98% of eligible voters already have ID) and lack of motivation. Turnout in elections is never particularly high (turnout in the last GE was 67.3%, and local election turnouts tend to be [much lower](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8060/)). If you aren’t the kind of person who would turn out to vote, why would you bother seeking out ID in the first place?
I suspect that there will be some drama where people forget ID but I would be surprised if many people who want to vote are prevented from doing so.
As well as the free Voter Authority Certificate (A4 sheet of paper, so unlikely to be reused across elections), CitizenCard have been waiving their usual £15 fee with the code FREEVOTERID – so if you’re under 60, don’t have a driving license or passport, and aren’t in school, college, University or other group which can obtain CitizenCards on behalf of their enrolled…
It’s almost as if most people intending to vote already have ID…..
Last post about this there were a bunch of people saying people were silly and claiming the problem was solely on them for not applying. No, it is the Tories silly being corrupt and trying to tilt elections in their favour by reducing votes us the problem.
Out of interest, are there any plans to record the number of people who are refused a vote due to ID issues?
Taking notes from the Republican Party I see.
I think that since the last GE, we’ve had more PMs than successful prosecutions for voter fraud.
Of course they have its the only chance they have of not being completely wiped off the map
Let’s say it again: **disenfranchisement is the point of the ID law**.
Of those 67 cases, 32 involved ‘personation’ or ‘multiple voting’, i.e. were situations that voter ID could have affected. 4 were locally resolved. 19 were dropped due to no/insufficient evidence. 8 were dismissed when it was found no offence was committed.
32 investigations in the UK’s most important election. Compared to the thousands of people who will be disenfranchised because they are too busy trying to survive a cost of living crisis to spare the mental energy and time to apply for voter ID.
**Stopping people voting is the point.**
Be absolutely hilarious if the Tory votes fell through the floor as the older folk forgot to take ID and then due to age and I’ll health just didn’t bother going back to the polling place.
Purely anecdotal of course, but every person my age has some form of ID. 2 of my older family members do not
1. Most people already have a driving licence or passport, so a tiny uptake is to be expected.
2. Its been advertised VERY poorly
3. This is all by design to get less people to vote, as that benefits the tories.
I see at least 2/3 posts a day warning people to get voter id on instagram/twitter/facebook, local council has been posting about it for months, all my friends have shared posts about it, I run a local community instagram page with over a thousand followers and i’ve posted about it a few times, local papers reported it loads, local mps/councillors have posted about it.
​
No one in my area can legitimately use the excuse that they didnt know they needed ID, but it is a really working class area and it will be one of the areas where people get turned away from voting.
Us old people don’t need voter ID because we will use our postal votes.
Why would they change the plan when it’s working so brilliantly?
The only thing that would make it possibly worse would be mandatory voting
who’s the least chance to win ok then, they get my vote
You can apply for a postal vote and then post it early well before the election OR you can take the postal vote to the polling station and hand it in WITHOUT having any photo ID.
>
>
>**If you’re too late to post your ballot paper**
>
>Take it to your local polling station by 10pm on election day, or Electoral Registration Office before they close.
Before this nonsense emerged I had no intention of voting despite having all forms of I.D. Why would anybody vote for the shitshow known as The British Political System defies my logic.
24 comments
the govt is very well aware which section of voters is less likely to be aware of the new requirements and more likely not to have acceptable ID to hand
I think the best part about all this is that the voter ID thing they have introduced is itself *horrifically* open to fraud given all you need is to input your NI number, your registered address, and upload a picture to be sent one. Absolutely no way anyone could get ahold of those kinds of high-level details right…? All this to stop a problem that doesn’t seem to actually exist, at most a dozen or so cases.
Disaster? The Tories don’t see it that way.
Successful voter suppression.
Local election turnouts are very low anyway. This voter suppression will only make them lower.
[deleted]
It’d be in Labour’s interests (not to mention the electorate) to scrap all this, wouldn’t it?
Isn’t this pointing to an as early as possible GE?
Less people voting – presumably Labour voters
Less impact of the ever worsening economy
So a smaller defeat in the end from which it will be easier to rebound?
At a guess, the low uptake of Voter Authority Certificates will be a combination of a lack of need (something like 98% of eligible voters already have ID) and lack of motivation. Turnout in elections is never particularly high (turnout in the last GE was 67.3%, and local election turnouts tend to be [much lower](https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8060/)). If you aren’t the kind of person who would turn out to vote, why would you bother seeking out ID in the first place?
I suspect that there will be some drama where people forget ID but I would be surprised if many people who want to vote are prevented from doing so.
As well as the free Voter Authority Certificate (A4 sheet of paper, so unlikely to be reused across elections), CitizenCard have been waiving their usual £15 fee with the code FREEVOTERID – so if you’re under 60, don’t have a driving license or passport, and aren’t in school, college, University or other group which can obtain CitizenCards on behalf of their enrolled…
It’s almost as if most people intending to vote already have ID…..
Last post about this there were a bunch of people saying people were silly and claiming the problem was solely on them for not applying. No, it is the Tories silly being corrupt and trying to tilt elections in their favour by reducing votes us the problem.
Out of interest, are there any plans to record the number of people who are refused a vote due to ID issues?
Taking notes from the Republican Party I see.
I think that since the last GE, we’ve had more PMs than successful prosecutions for voter fraud.
Of course they have its the only chance they have of not being completely wiped off the map
Let’s say it again: **disenfranchisement is the point of the ID law**.
[Electoral fraud is incredibly rare in the UK](https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/who-we-are-and-what-we-do/our-views-and-research/our-research/electoral-fraud-data). Only a quarter of electoral fraud cases are even related to voting; most are related to candidates making false statements. In the [2019 general election](https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/who-we-are-and-what-we-do/our-views-and-research/our-research/electoral-fraud-data/2019-electoral-fraud-data), we had one conviction for tampering with ballot papers. 9 cases were resolved locally. 30 cases had no further action due to insufficient or lack of evidence. 25 cases were investigated but it was found that no offence was committed. 2 others were in other categories.
Of those 67 cases, 32 involved ‘personation’ or ‘multiple voting’, i.e. were situations that voter ID could have affected. 4 were locally resolved. 19 were dropped due to no/insufficient evidence. 8 were dismissed when it was found no offence was committed.
32 investigations in the UK’s most important election. Compared to the thousands of people who will be disenfranchised because they are too busy trying to survive a cost of living crisis to spare the mental energy and time to apply for voter ID.
**Stopping people voting is the point.**
Be absolutely hilarious if the Tory votes fell through the floor as the older folk forgot to take ID and then due to age and I’ll health just didn’t bother going back to the polling place.
Purely anecdotal of course, but every person my age has some form of ID. 2 of my older family members do not
1. Most people already have a driving licence or passport, so a tiny uptake is to be expected.
2. Its been advertised VERY poorly
3. This is all by design to get less people to vote, as that benefits the tories.
I see at least 2/3 posts a day warning people to get voter id on instagram/twitter/facebook, local council has been posting about it for months, all my friends have shared posts about it, I run a local community instagram page with over a thousand followers and i’ve posted about it a few times, local papers reported it loads, local mps/councillors have posted about it.
​
No one in my area can legitimately use the excuse that they didnt know they needed ID, but it is a really working class area and it will be one of the areas where people get turned away from voting.
Us old people don’t need voter ID because we will use our postal votes.
Why would they change the plan when it’s working so brilliantly?
The only thing that would make it possibly worse would be mandatory voting
who’s the least chance to win ok then, they get my vote
You can apply for a postal vote and then post it early well before the election OR you can take the postal vote to the polling station and hand it in WITHOUT having any photo ID.
[https://www.gov.uk/how-to-vote/postal-voting](https://www.gov.uk/how-to-vote/postal-voting)
>
>
>**If you’re too late to post your ballot paper**
>
>Take it to your local polling station by 10pm on election day, or Electoral Registration Office before they close.
Before this nonsense emerged I had no intention of voting despite having all forms of I.D. Why would anybody vote for the shitshow known as The British Political System defies my logic.