The LGIU said electoral staff are “unconvinced they can deliver a successful general election with voter ID” if Parliament calls one ahead of the deadline, as is widely expected.
There will be ‘significant disruption’ to the next general election as a result of the rollout of voter ID nationally, election staff have warned.
The warning comes after a damning new report found that voter ID rules which were applied for the first time in local elections in May this year, led to racial and disability discrimination.
The report, published by the all-party parliamentary group on democracy and the constitution, found that ‘the current voter-ID system is, as it stands, a ‘poisoned cure’ in that it disenfranchises more electors than it protects.’
With the voter ID requirement now covering UK general elections from the autumn, meaning it will be a requirement at the next Westminster election, electoral administrators surveyed for a report by the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) have raised concerns over rolling out the policy when faced with significant staff shortages, strained resources and complex electoral law.
The LGIU said electoral staff are “unconvinced they can deliver a successful general election with voter ID” if Parliament calls one ahead of the deadline, as is widely expected.
The report said 88 per cent of those surveyed said recruiting polling stations staff was a problem, with 82 per cent saying voter ID had made it even more difficult.
The Electoral Commission also published a report in June looking at the impacts of voter ID and found that about 14,000 people were denied the right to vote after being unable to provide identification required under new voter ID laws.
Campaign groups such as the Electoral Reform Society had been warning for some time that the requirement for photo ID at elections was discriminatory, and would have an overall negative impact.
Millions of people were found to lack the strictest forms of photo ID, such as a passport or driving licence. Government-commissioned research found that 2% of people don’t have any form of photo ID, while the government also limited the types of identification that could be accepted, and included, for example, older people’s travel passes, but not those of younger voters.
Given what happened in May’s local elections, there are fears that even more people will be turned away from polling stations due to voter ID rules in a higher turnout poll.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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