UK voter verification: Boris Johnson turned away from polls after forgetting ID

The UK’s introduction of photo ID for voting in elections continues to stir public opinion. Last Thursday, Brits received a chance to witness the downsides of mandating photo identification for voters after the country’s former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was turned away from a polling station after forgetting to bring his ID.

Johnson was attempting to vote at the local elections in South Oxfordshire. The incident proved to be particularly embarrassing for the former head of state as it was his government that introduced the photo requirement for voting with the Elections Act of 2022, The Guardian reports.

The Conservative Party politician was not the only politician who fumbled the new voter ID rule during the local elections. Tom Hunt, a Tory member of Parliament (MP) for Ipswich, also found himself at the center of media attention after asking his local member group on WhatsApp for an emergency proxy that would guarantee his identity at the elections. The lawmaker discovered he had no appropriate ID to vote in the local council elections.

Mandatory photo ID for voters was first introduced in 2023 for the year’s local elections, allowing for more than 20 forms of ID. This year for the first time, the UK is planning to uphold the same ID voting rule for national elections, scheduled to be held sometime before January 28, 2025.

The government has been facing significant pushback over the rule itself as well as the limited number of acceptable forms of ID. The veterans’ minister has apologized to former soldiers who said they were unable to vote using their veteran card as photo identification during last week’s elections.

“The legislation on acceptable forms of ID came out before the veterans’ ID cards started coming out in January this year. I will do all I can to change it before the next one,” Minister Johnny Mercer tweeted.

Another point of contention has been allowing voting with senior bus passes but excluding similar identification for younger people, such as other travel passes and student documents.

The Electoral Commission has been warning that the tight ID rules risk disenfranchising certain groups. The requirement has also been fueling accusations that the Tory government is trying to exclude voters who are likely to vote against them, including young people.

Meanwhile, amid discussion of voting and increasing migration, some UK politicians have taken the chance to re-introduce the idea of a British national ID card.

PNG follow UK’s lead on voter ID

Papua New Guinea, former British colony and current member of the British Commonwealth, is also considering introducing photo ID for voting. The country’s next general elections will be held in 2027, local news outlet The National reports.

The voters would register on the biometric photo roll system which would help identify voters, according to Electoral Commissioner Simon Sinai, who recently observed elections in the Solomon Islands. The task would be massive with operational and logistics requirements to fulfill, he added.

“I hope that with the support of stakeholders, we too can have a biometric photo roll registration before the next elections,” he said.

Article Topics

elections  |  identity document  |  identity verification  |  UK  |  voter identification