An Independent councillor has criticised new rules that will require people to show photographic ID before they can vote at the local elections in May.
North Portslade councillor Peter Atkinson slammed the change in the law which critics have said could catch people out.
Councillor Atkinson said that he was “worried that people will not be able to vote when they arrive at the polling station or may be put off voting completely”.
He said: “The council is due to write to every voter starting with North Portslade and two other wards later this month.
“Residents will have to show one of the following forms of photo ID at the polling station to be able to vote
- UK passport
- passport issued by an EEA state or a Commonwealth country
- driving licence (including provisional licence)
- EEA identity card
- biometric residence permit
- “PASS” card
- older person’s bus pass
- disabled person’s bus pass
…
If people do not have any of those, they will have to apply for a “voter authority certificate” from an online webite to then be allowed to vote.
Councillor Atkinson said: “These new rules are completely unnecessary. There is no evidence of widespread electoral fraud and both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have opposed the plans.
“Even the Electoral Commission feels that this May is too soon to try the new scheme out but the government has simply not listened.
“A lot of the older residents in North Portslade tell me that they are proud to walk down to the polling station to cast their vote.
“They may struggle with these new rules though and that would be a tragedy and an insult to democracy.”
Councillor Atkinson has been warning residents about the new rules and suggested that they apply for a postal vote instead if they are worried about them.
He said that he had also been asking the council’s electoral services staff about to how the new system would work.
A necessity in a city like Brighton and Hove because you have students boasting of voting twice, once here and then back home with Mum and Dad. Also in certain parts of Britain where male dominance in households prevails there is the danger of postal vote abuse.
Absolutely spot-on…
Students and anybody else can vote twice at local elections if they spend a lot of time in both constituencies.
But if was illegal how does voter ID stop it ?
Voter fraud is incredibly rare in the UK. This is just a way to control the vote. Appalling. Voting should be anonymous.
You think voting is anonymous?
The voting slip has a serial number which is logged against your name when you pick it up in the polling station.
I suspect that this could be the end of polling stations and the beginning of all-postal voting. Which would bring considerably more problems.
This is about voter suppression, pure and simple, and taken straight from the US republican party’s playbook.
It is also going to cost local councils money (for the issue of ID to those who request it), which at a time like this could be better spent on something else. So we end up paying for Tories to basically steal elections.
It has nothing to do with the GOP, voter suppression or stealing elections. It quite simply a good idea. I have always wondered why we are never required to produce some form of identity of proof of residence before being allowed to vote.
Still… nothing like a good conspiracy theory is there.
Charles U Farley
Quite simply a poor idea, lets consider the options.
UK passport.
passport issued by an EEA state or a Commonwealth country.
driving license (including provisional license)
EEA identity card
biometric residence permit
“PASS” card
older person’s bus pass
disabled person’s bus pass
So what about those have none of the above ?
How about a simple idea, why don’t the council send the registered people voting cards to their address, then just take the card and put a line through the name and address when they get to the polling station.
Oh we already do that.
I’ve never had the thought as to why I’m not asked for any identity. Generally I have a voting card with my name and address on sent to me by the council, my name is scrubbed off the list so even if I’m not me, I have voted and If I am me, I can’t vote a second time.
Students having 2 votes in their student address and home address is entirely legal and won’t change under this new laws. If you are concerned about people being bullied into voting differently when they do a postal vote then we need to make it easier for people to vote in person not harder which is what this law does.
Only for Local council elections – see https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/students
It’s a bit late to complain as it is starting in May, and I know this is from the US, but an awful lot of countries require voter ID and Northern Ireland has had it since 1983.
https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/countries-that-require-an-id-to-vote/
It’s no different to the Council’s own requirements for parking permits …
And the Council won’t even link your parking account to your council tax bill so you have to sent that to them as proof …
It is voter suppression pure and simple and particularly unfair when the state, unlike most EU countries, fails to issue ID cards. The number of voter fraudsters each year in the whole country is less than half a dozen out of millions of votes. Students get to vote in local elections at their university address and their home address if they wish to, because each local authority is a separate election. They can only vote in one constituency for Parliamentary elections though.
Licence, it’s ON the licence…