‘It is an outrage that thousands of people were denied a voice at the local elections because of the Conservative Party's Voter ID rules.’

The Electoral Commission, an independent agency that sets standards on how elections should be run, has revealed as many as 14,000 people were prevented from voting in England’s local elections in May because they could not provide an accepted form of photo ID.

The controversial voter ID rules were announced by the Conservative government in 2021, as part of the new Elections Act, designed to ‘strengthen the integrity of the electoral process’ and ‘combat electoral fraud.’ 

Warnings were made that the policy would disenfranchise people on lower incomes, younger generations, and ethnic minorities.

The election watchdog collected data at the polling stations. It found that unemployed and ethnic minority voters were more likely to be turned away, saying there was “some correlation” between the numbers turned away and “specific socio-demographic factors, such as ethnicity and unemployment.”

Passports, driving licences and blue badges are among the accepted ID at polling stations. In the run-up to the local elections, the government introduced Voter Authority Certificates, as another form of ID. However, the Electoral Commission’s research found that only 25,000 of the 90,000 applied for before May’s election were used as ID.

It is believed that the exact figure of constituents that were refused from voting will be even higher, as some who were unable to vote may have turned backed after reading the requirements on entrance and had not been formally recorded. The data was also taken from just 226 of the 230 councils that held local elections.

The Tories claim the policy is aimed at combatting voter fraud. However, in the May elections, no cases of personation – where someone pretends to be another person as a means of voting – were reported.

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner described the rules as having a “chilling effect on democracy.” She is calling for a “comprehensive review into this discredited policy.”

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

Lib Dem spokesperson Helen Morgan said it is an “outrage that thousands of people were denied a voice at the local elections because of the Conservative Party’s Voter ID rules.” The policy “looks like a transparent attempt at voter suppression by Conservative ministers who are desperate to stop people from holding them to account,” Morgan added.

Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg admitted as much, when he recently said that the policy had been an attempt at gerrymandering, that is fixing rules to gain electoral advantage. Rees-Mogg was a member of the Cabinet when the measure was introduced.

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward

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