1 in 400 Couldn’t Vote in Local Elections Due to New Photo ID Rules

People leaving a polling station in Bridlington Priory Church, Yorkshire, England, on May 4, 2023. (Danny Lawson/PA Media)

About 0.25 percent of voters who went to a polling station in the May local elections were not able to vote as a result of the new photo ID requirement, the Electoral Commission has said.

Under the Elections Bill passed in April 2022, those turning up at polling stations must show a valid photo ID before being given a voting slip. The requirement was put into practice for the first time in England’s local elections on May 4.

According to the election watchdog, approximately 14,000 voters—0.25 percent of all voters who went to a polling station—were not able to vote as a result of not being able to show an acceptable photo ID.

Among people who said they did not vote at the May elections, 4 percent listed the ID requirement as the reason—3 percent said they did not have the necessary ID, and 1 percent said they disagreed with the new requirement.

Craig Westwood, the watchdog’s director of communications, said: “The evidence suggests that the vast majority of voters were able to present an accepted form of ID at the May elections.

“But it also shows that some people were prevented from voting in polling stations due to the requirement, and significantly more did not attempt to because they lacked the required ID.”

The commission said it is undertaking further research and will make recommendations for improvement “in order to ensure that elections remain truly accessible to all.”

High Awareness

Valid photo IDs include passports, driving licences, blue badges, biometric residence permits, defence identity cards, and national identity cards issued by the European Union, Norway, Iceland, or Liechtenstein.

Those who don’t have these IDs can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate, a photo ID supplied by the government for free.

Westwood said that overall awareness of the requirement was high, but noted that “people who lacked ID were less likely to know they needed to show it.”

According to the commission’s research, 92 percent of people were aware of the need to bring ID to vote at a polling station, though awareness was lower among people who said they did not have ID (74 percent).

Awareness of the availability of free IDs was 57 percent. Close to 90,000 people applied for a Voter Authority Certificate before the deadline, and 81,033 certificates were issued ahead of the locals, but only 25,000 were used as a form of ID on the day.

About 0.7 percent of people were initially turned away from polling stations due to their failure to show an acceptable ID, but around two thirds of these people (63 percent) returned later in the day and were able to vote.

Among those recorded as being turned away from a polling station, 70 percent had not brought any ID and 30 percent brought a type that was not accepted.

Westwood said: “We don’t want to see a single voter lose the opportunity to have their say. We are working to understand the challenges people faced, and will make recommendations that, with the engagement of government and wider electoral community, will support the participation of all voters.”

‘Encouraging Findings’

The government said the photo ID requirement is intended to make sure voting is a “high-integrity process.”

But Labour called it a “discredited policy” and a “barrier to voting.”

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said, “No legitimate voter should be locked out of democracy but that has been the effect of the Tories’ failed voter ID regulations.”

“It’s particularly alarming that under-represented groups look to have been more likely to have denied their say by these new barriers to voting. These strict rules are having a chilling effect on democracy,” she added.

Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrats’ local government spokeswoman, said it was an “outrage” that thousands of people had been “denied a voice.”

“It looks like a transparent attempt at voter suppression by Conservative ministers who are desperate to stop people from holding them to account by any means possible,” she said.

But voter ID is not entirely a novelty for the UK, as it has been a requirement in Northern Ireland—a British region—for nearly 40 years.

Voter ID requirements were introduced in Northern Ireland after the 1983 general elections following concerns about the extent of voter fraud in the region. Since 2003 photographic ID has been required.

A spokesman for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “It’s vital we keep our democracy secure, prevent the potential for voter fraud, and bring the rest of the UK in line with Northern Ireland, which has had photo identification to vote in elections since 2003.

“We welcome the Electoral Commission’s interim report on May’s local elections, which shows that the vast majority of voters—99.75 percent—were able to cast their vote successfully and adapted well to the rollout of voter identification in Great Britain.

“These encouraging findings are also reflective of the confidence we always had in the ability of local authorities to implement these changes while continuing to deliver our elections robustly and securely.”

PA Media contributed to this report.