UK Government Won’t Expand Voter ID Ahead of General Election

People leave after casting their vote at the polling station in Bridlington Priory Church, Yorkshire, England, on May 4, 2023. (Danny Lawson/PA Media)

The list of admissible forms of photographic ID that voters need to show at polling stations will not be expanded, the UK government has decided.

The decision came on Tuesday, as reported by the Financial Times, despite criticism the current list creates barriers for voters.

Chair of the Electoral Commission, John Pullinger, cautioned that current rules on voter IDs risked disenfranchising certain groups.

“The photo ID requirement is clearly proving more of a barrier to some people than others,” Mr. Pullinger told the Financial Times on Monday.

He suggested that voter ID requirement were putting young people off voting.

Under the Elections Bill passed in April 2022, those turning up at polling stations will need to show a valid photo ID before being given a voting slip.

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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.

According to the government, the list includes ID forms that “are secure and widely held amongst the electorate.”

Having reviewed the “security scores” of some IDs, ministers have approved such forms as the 60+ Oyster photocard, but excluded the 18+ Oyster card because it “does not have a suitably secure application process.”

Criticism

Given that young voters are less likely to support the Conservative Party, unlike people aged 70 and over, the government has been criticised by MPs for “rewriting the rules to benefit themselves.”

The Electoral Commission and politicians have previously recommended that the government widens the list of accepted documents.

The director of communications with the Commission, Craig Westwood, said in September that expanded accessibility should be introduced ahead of the next UK general election.

This is to “ensure large numbers of people are not prevented from taking part,” he added.

Mr. Pullinger said that Downing Street had rejected the proposals, citing the security of elections.

Local elections in May last year were the first in Great Britain to require voters to show a form of identification.

Research by the Electoral Commission showed that some people found it harder to vote because they either didn’t own an appropriate ID or weren’t aware of the need to bring it when voting.

“The proportion was significantly higher among disabled people, unemployed people and some other groups,” said Mr. Pullinger.

He acknowledged the government’s concerns around ensuring election security, but said “we should do better” in order to avoid “disenfranchising particular people.”

Mr. Pullinger also said that it was “too late” to make changes for the general election, expected to take place this year.

The general election could be “seriously disrupted” by the new requirement for voters to show an accepted photo ID, a report by the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) has warned.

Disruption

Electoral administrators, surveyed by the LGIU, said that voter ID added to their stress, caused by limited resources and short timetables.

One surveyed administrator, who worked on May elections, said it was easy to make a “catastrophic” error, given the complexity of the process.

The photo ID requirement has only been tested in local elections, said the survey, questioning how it will play out in a general election. Approximately 14,000 voters could not vote in May because they could not show an accepted form of ID.

The Electoral Commission, reported high (89 percent) levels of satisfaction with the process of voting. Before election day, 87 percent of people in England knew that they would have to show an ID to vote.

This however, didn’t prevent local administrators from being “haunted by the spectre of the next general election.”

Last year, Mr. Sunak said that the photo ID requirement will help make sure voting is a “high-integrity process.”

Downing Street said the rules were aimed at preventing potential voter impersonation, rather than dealing with any widespread existing issue.