As UK sets date for general elections, criticism piles on voter ID requirement

The UK’s first national election to require a photo ID document has finally set its date to July 4th. But as the deadline approaches, some experts are warning that the ID requirement alongside existing issues with voter registration could demand a “huge” logistical effort while rights organizations are decrying the voter ID’s potential for discrimination.

“The volume of registration and identification applications will pose a considerable challenge for electoral administrators,” says Toby James, a professor at the University of East Anglia and deputy director of the Electoral Integrity Project.

According to 2022 data from the Electoral Commission, as many as 8 million people are not correctly registered at their current address, meaning that they are not recorded in local government registers. This could result in many citizens turning up to polling stations on the day of the election only to be turned away, James writes for The Conversation.

In addition, some 16 percent of voters are unaware of the new ID rules, meaning that around 5 million of Britain’s voters could be turned away when they try to cast their votes, according to an April poll from Survation.

In response, the government has offered free voter authority certificates for anyone registered to vote without the correct ID document or who no longer looks like their photo. The deadline for application is June 26th. Voters can also apply for an emergency proxy vote up until 5 PM on polling day. In addition, voters with expired photo IDs can still use them as long as they look the same.

Is voter verification a path toward discrimination?

For months, the UK government has been facing significant pushback over the voter ID rule itself as well as the limited number of acceptable forms of identity documents.

The voter ID rule was introduced in 2023 by the Conservative government to prevent voter fraud.  Last year’s local elections were the first time the new rules were applied and July’s elections are the first time voters will be required to show their IDs at the general elections. Voters can currently show 22 acceptable forms of ID including passports, driving licenses, older or disabled person’s bus passes and Oyster 60+ cards.

The new requirement, however, has been fueling accusations that the Tories are trying to exclude voters who are likely to vote against them, including young people.

One lingering controversy is not allowing former military personnel to use their veteran cards to vote. Earlier in May, Veterans’ Minister Johnny Mercer apologized to veterans who were turned away from the polling station, saying that the ID rules were set before veterans’ ID cards were released in January.

Several weeks after that, however, leaked photos of Minister Mercer’s laptop revealed that the UK government rejected calls for the use of veteran cards in case it “opened the floodgates” for students to do the same, according to The Times.

The Electoral Commission has also been warning that voter registration levels vary between demographic groups. Older people have higher registration rates than younger people, members of lower socioeconomic groups, black citizens, private renters and eligible Commonwealth citizens. Strict ID rules also risk disenfranchising similar groups, the agency has found.

“Since it was proposed, we have warned that Voter ID is a harmful, counterproductive measure that limits access to democracy for people of color,” Alba Kapoor, head of policy at equality think tank Runnymede Trust, told the Reuters Foundation’s Context News.

LGBT+ rights organizations such as Stonewall argue that photo IDs will introduce bureaucratic hurdles and costs to people who already face inequalities while homeless charities such as Crisis say that the mandate will make it even harder for homeless people to vote.

Article Topics

face photo  |  fraud prevention  |  identity document  |  identity verification  |  UK  |  voter identification