Voter ID trials 'risk disenfranchising vulnerable people'

Campaigners write to ministers over plans to pilot compulsory ID for voters in May’s local elections

A group of more than 40 charities, campaign groups and academics have written to the government to warn that plans to trial compulsory voter ID at the local elections in May risk disenfranchising large numbers of vulnerable people.

The letter to Chloe Smith, the constitution minister, says the pilot scheme is a disproportionate response to the scale of electoral fraud, noting that in 2016 there were just 44 allegations of voter impersonation, the issue that compulsory ID is intended to combat.

It said Electoral Commission figures indicated that 3.5 million people in Britain – 7.5% of the electorate – do not have access to any form of photo ID.

The letter was organised by the Electoral Reform Society and is signed by the heads of organisations including Age UK, the RNIB, the Salvation Army, the British Youth Council, Stonewall, Operation Black Vote, Liberty, the National Union of Students and St Mungo’s.

It says the trial, which will require voters in five local authorities to show ID before they can vote on 3 May, could

present a significant barrier to democratic engagement and risk compromising a basic human right for some of the most marginalised groups in society”.

The letter says research has shown that the voters least likely to possess the necessary ID include young or older people, those with disabilities, BAME communities, homeless people and transgender and gender non-conforming people.

It argues that although the councils taking part in the pilots will provide other options for those without photo ID,

the measures do not go far enough to alleviate the potential risk of disenfranchisement and deterrent to voting”.

It also expresses concern about low levels of public awareness about the pilots and the issues they might cause, despite the local elections being just two months away.

The ID pilot will take place in Bromley, Gosport, Swindon, Watford and Woking. Separate trials about the security of postal voting will take place in Peterborough, Tower Hamlets and Slough.

Darren Hughes, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, said mandatory voter ID was “a sledgehammer to crack a nut”. He said:

Requiring voters to bring ID to the polling station risks excluding far more people than the handful attempting to undermine the result. The government needs to rethink these plans urgently to ensure that our democracy is not threatened by these heavy-handed changes.”

Simon Woolley, director of Operation Black Vote, said ministers should be seeking to make voting easier

“rather than introducing more layers of bureaucracy that will inevitable cause distrust and turn people away”.

Paul Twocock, head of campaigns for Stonewall UK, said he was concerned about unintended consequences.

Getting access to approved ID can be difficult for minority groups, including trans and non-binary, BAME, disabled and homeless people. For a homeless person who’s lost their ID, applying for and being able to afford new ID is very hard.”

A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said:

We already ask that people prove who they are in order to collect a parcel from the post office, rent a car or travel abroad – and we believe it is right to take the same approach to protect voting rights. Local authorities are working with partners to ensure that everyone eligible to vote will be able to do so.”

Click here to read/download the letter of concern from campaigners

Peter Walker Political correspondent

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/mar/06/voter-id-trials-risk-disenfranchising-vulnerable-people