Changes to the Way We Vote – Long Read

If you’re a regular reader of the blog (hi Mum!) you’ll be pretty sure about my political views. I tend to lean to the left from the centre and I think the current Conservative Party is morally bankrupt and would be inept at running a battery powered toy car let alone a country that rakes in over seven hundred billion pounds per year in taxes. They’re useless at running the country because they’re too focussed on feathering themselves in even more power and wealth. I suppose they are also clever, but in a ‘they know what they need to do to try and ensure they retain power and fuck the actual consequences to democracy ‘ kind of way.

Enter stage left the Elections Act 2022. Within this act is the requirement that voters in Great Britain must show photo ID before being issued a ballot paper in polling stations. This comes into force at the local elections in England in May 2023, hence my post. I wanted to write about it now so that at least I had put the word out there. I have asked round and over 50% of people I’ve asked didn’t know about the requirement for photo ID to vote. And I haven’t seen or heard a massive campaign on the news, the TV, radio or billboards. It seems to have flown under the radar.

For most of us, we probably have a driver’s licence or a passport, both valid forms of photo ID for this new Act and therefore we’d be alright. There might be some inconvenience for you turning up to the polling station without your ID, you’d have to nip home etc. But what if you don’t have one of those forms of ID?

Well the Act has provisions for that, there’s a whole list of other forms of ID which are valid. Excellent, I hear you cry! There’s a long list of IDs which are eligible and you can see that list here: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/voter-id/accepted-forms-photo-id I would though like to draw your attention to the fact that the Oyster card is valid… well actually the 60+ Oyster card is valid, the normal Oyster card isn’t. And the Older Person’s Bus Pass is valid but not one for people who may be younger. And the Freedom Pass is valid for those of the older generations. Now I have nothing against those who happen to be older than me, however this list of valid IDs does tend to skew towards the older generations who typically vote for… The Conservatives. Funny that. And just to hammer this home, in 2019 turnout for 18-34 year olds was 54% and for those aged over 65 and over was 77%. Surely we need to be encouraging the young to vote not disenfranchising them?

I just want to note here, that you can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate if you do not have any form of photo ID and I would definitely encourage you to do this so that you can exercise your democratic right to vote. Click on the shiny button below to apply:

And you may be thinking, well there must be some sound reasoning behind bringing in voter ID. Could this be because of a raft of convictions in voter fraud? The courts must be inundated with baddies voting under names and aliases not their own and bringing in this simple measure will cut down on this and save us a tonne of time and effort and money. Low and behold I have some stats for you, set out in a Parliamentary Committee no less. In 2019 there were 33 allegations of voter fraud, 1 caution and 1 conviction. In 2018 there were 19 allegations of voter fraud and 0 cautions and 0 convictions. In 2017 there were 28 allegations of voter fraud, 1 caution and 0 convictions. In 2016 there 44 allegations of voter fraud, 1 conviction and 3 cautions. In 2015,… do I have to go on? In the grand scheme of things, voter fraud is not a material issue and does not need legislating for. So again, why have IDs been brought in?

In the U.S.A., in areas where voter ID was brought in, it caused a drop in turn-out, especially those of racial and ethnic minority groups. This new barrier to voting may cause a drop in turn out here and could disenfranchise citizens even more because it will become harder to vote. And just to extend the conspiracy I mentioned above, those of us who are part of ethnic minority groups tend not to vote for… The Conservatives.

And this introduction of voter ID will cost the UK economy £20 million per year more than what elections already cost. That £20 million could be spent on getting the 19 million citizens who aren’t on the electoral register onto it and encouraging them to go out and exercise their democratic right to vote. So we’ve legislated for a problem that doesn’t exist and it’ll cost us more money when we need every penny. Any of this making sense? And to finish off my conspiracy, the Conservatives know that if they can supress the voting public, they are more likely to get back into power, because the citizens who tend to vote for them will come out whatever barrier is put in their way.

Look, I suppose in the end, what I’d like to say is… make sure you can and then go and vote.