Editorial

ID requirements present ‘significant issues’ for voters

New voter ID requirements are criticised as discriminating against young people.

Posted 10 November 2022 by Christine Horton


Election officials and opposition parties have criticised new plans for the introduction of voter ID.

Plans to implement voter ID are due to start at the local elections in England next May. However, The Electoral Commission and the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA), which represents election staff, say there is minimal time remaining to introduce voter ID, with details of how the system will work in practice yet to be published.

The department for levelling up, housing and communities (DLUHC), which oversees elections, is due to publish secondary legislation this week on issues including the types of identity allowed.

The Guardian reports that Peter Stanyon, the chief executive of the AEA, said the changes, plus the work required to implement boundary changes, presented “significant issues.”

One concern, he said, was a loss of volunteer elections staff due to worries about having to turn away voters without ID. “We can foresee individuals being put in very difficult situations, where they are quite legitimately saying no, and it creates difficulties,” he said.

In September the Electoral Commission warned that the delays in setting out details of changes such as voter ID risked confusion and that “many” elections team had reported difficulties finding staff or suitable venues.

Discrimination

Labour has opposed voter ID. Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who worked on the legislation at committee stage, told Byline Times that young people would be discriminated against by the policy. Six of the Government-accepted IDs are specifically targeted at older people, while almost none are aimed at younger people.

As well as passports and driving licences, the government will accept:

  • An Older Person’s Bus Pass
  • A Disabled Person’s Bus Pass
  • An Oyster 60+ card
  • A Freedom Pass (66+)
  • Passes funded by the Scottish Government
  • The National Entitlement Card (over 60s or 16 to 22)
  • Passes funded by the Welsh Government
  • A 60 and Over Welsh Concessionary Travel Card
  • A Disabled Person’s Welsh Concessionary Travel Card
  • Passes issued under the Northern Ireland Concessionary Fares Scheme
  • A Senior SmartPass
  • A Registered Blind SmartPass or Blind Person’s SmartPass
  • A War Disablement SmartPass or War Disabled SmartPass
  • A 60+ SmartPass
  • A Half Fare SmartPass
  • PASS card though to the list (e.g. holographic and photographic CitizenCards and some student IDs)

“I pushed very hard for ministers to accept other forms of ID,” Russell-Moyle said. But the decision was taken to exclude forms of ID “that are just as secure”. He added that “student ID cards or Railcards have been deemed not acceptable” and that, “on average, young people will be discriminated against much worse than older voters”.

“Will it mirror US voter suppression?” he told Byline Times. “The answer is yes. I had a colleague from the New York City Council here last week – we chatted and he couldn’t believe the levels of ID that were unacceptable. He said, even in the US, college cards are accepted. It’s far worse than any US state here – he couldn’t believe it.”

Stanyon said that two percent of people might need access to a free ID, which the Government has promised to introduce. Other figures show that this could be as high as six percent.

Councils do not currently know how much money will be offered to support their registration efforts. “No one knows,” said Stanyon. “There will be funding for an additional member of staff per polling station. The problem will be when there’s an issue where they don’t have an ID or an ID is unknown.”