The new voter ID rules explained

Polling stations across England are drafting in extra staff to help deal with the introduction of mandatory photographic voter ID at local elections.

Craig Westwood, the director of communications at the Electoral Commission, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that volunteers had been preparing for months to put the plans in place and make sure voting on 4 May runs smoothly.

It comes amid warnings from campaigners that awareness of the major change in how people can vote is “worryingly low”, said HuffPost, and could lead to chaos at polling stations, thousands of people disenfranchised and even influence the outcome of the local elections.

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What will be different?

It has been described as “the biggest change to in-person voting in 150 years” by Councillor Kevin Bentley, spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents local authorities.

For the first time ever in England, people turning up at polling stations on 4 May will be required to show photographic identification before they are allowed to vote. In the past you only needed to provide your name and address.

Passports and driving licences are acceptable everywhere but requirements for other forms of ID vary. “An over-60 travel pass is valid in London, Wales and Northern Ireland (where photo ID has been required since 2003)”, said The Economist, even though a young person’s rail card or Oyster card is not. “Elsewhere, only an over-66 travel pass granted at the state retirement age is accepted.”

A full list of accepted forms of voter ID can be found on the Electoral Commission website.

Those who do not have an accepted form of ID can apply for a free “voter authority certificate” here. Applicants must be registered to vote before applying and will need to provide a photo, their full name, date of birth, the address at which they are registered to vote and their National Insurance number. The deadline to apply is 5pm on Tuesday 25 April.

As of last week, just 55,000 people had applied for a voter authority certificate out of an estimated 2 million eligible voters in the UK who do not possess a valid form of voter ID.

Is ID really necessary?

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said ID checks will ensure elections are “high-integrity processes”, with proponents pointing to “high-profile, though isolated, examples of fraud”, said The Economist. The “most egregious”, was “a 2014 mayoral election in the London borough of Tower Hamlets, [which] ended up being voided on the grounds of corrupt and illegal practices”.

But overall there is “no evidence of large-scale electoral fraud in the UK”, said the BBC. According to the Electoral Commission, since 2018 there have been just nine convictions and six police cautions issued in connection with cases of electoral fraud.

The Guardian said ministers have recently faced “renewed accusations that the plan is a waste of time and resources after statistics showed that not a single proven case of in-person voter impersonation was discovered last year. The statistics highlighted a point made repeatedly by opponents of voter ID, that it tackles a problem that is almost unknown in Britain, while creating a barrier to voting for the estimated 2 million adults who lack the necessary documentation.”

Rather than improving the voting process, opponents argue the new rules will actually “suppress turnout among certain slices of the electorate”, said The Economist. It pointed out that “of the various photo-adorned bus passes, student cards and railcards carried by younger voters, who are less likely to vote Conservative, none are acceptable. People with severe disabilities, the unemployed and those who have never voted are also less likely to have any form of photo ID.”

The opposition have repeatedly criticised the plans, with Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner accusing the prime minister of “dangerously seeking to undermine trust and confidence in democratic elections”.

She went on to say the Tories’ voter ID policy is “expensive” and “unnecessary”. HuffPost revealed last year that the government was spending £3.5m on voter ID cards for those who do not have alternatives. The total cost of implementing voter ID across the UK ahead of the next general election is expected to be much higher.

What will the impact be?

The LGA has said the practical difficulties faced by councils enforcing ID checks “should not be underestimated”, warning staff overseeing polling stations could be “overwhelmed”.

Darren Hughes, chief executive of campaign group the Electoral Reform Society, said awareness of the changes was “so worrying low because it has been sort of snuck in that people on the front line on election day are going to be facing voters who are quite confused”.

Three weeks before the local elections, the Electoral Commission published new research that found that almost a quarter of people still did not know that photo ID was required to vote on 4 May.

This “leaves open the possibility of immediate chaos” on polling day, said The Economist, although “whether the new rules will have a long-term impact, on either electoral integrity or voter suppression, is open to question”.

The publication points to research from Canada, Switzerland and certain American states that has shown little correlation between voter ID laws and depressed turnout.

Yet “given the fine margins of local democracy, the loss of a few voters can make a big difference (experience suggests that people who are turned away from polling stations do not all return even if they have a valid ID at home)”, said The Economist. “If voters are turned away in their droves, or seats swing because a handful of voters are carrying the wrong pass, that might dent faith in the system rather than shore it up.”