Monday, March 02, 2020
In defence of democracy
The Independent highlights a one-man crusade by Neil Coughlan, a pensioner from Essex, one of 11 million registered electors in the UK who do not own a driving licence or a passport. That is part of the reason Mr Coughlan decided to take the government to court over trials that saw some voters asked to show identification at the ballot box – a policy ministers plan to roll out nationwide.
Mr Coughlan lost his case before the local elections last May – when voter ID was trialled – after the High Court found the voter ID pilots legal, but he will be appealing the decision in April:
The government has pushed forward with plans to roll out the policy nationwide since Mr Coughlan’s initial case, despite extensive research repeatedly indicating the issue of electoral fraud in the UK is negligible.
“I can’t see why so many innocent people have to be disenfranchised because of a few people who do something wrong,” Mr Coughlan told The Independent.
“We’ve got people who should vote but it’s hard to get them to vote. Making it harder again is just disenfranchising them for no good reason.”
He gained permission to appeal the High Court decision in October.
If his appeal is successful this year, it could strengthen the case against Boris Johnson’s controversial plans to roll out photo ID for voters nationwide, which critics have called a disproportionate response to an uncommon crime.
“This policy remains a sledgehammer to crack a nut,” Willie Sullivan from the Electoral Reform Society told The Independent.
According to the Electoral Commission, there was just one conviction for impersonation fraud – which identification at the ballot box aims to tackle – across the whole of 2017 and 2018.
In comparison, figures have estimated that 3.5 million eligible UK voters do not own photo ID and would have to sort out correct ID before elections if the measure were to go ahead.
The Electoral Commission found 2,000 people were turned away for lack of ID, with 800 people not returning to vote across the 10 constituencies trialled during May’s local elections.
Despite this, the PM is pushing forward with plans to roll out photo ID requirements for voters nationwide. The only explanation for this is that, as in the USA, these new requirements are being used as voter suppression.
Not many of those without a photo ID will vote Conservative, by discouraging them from voting, the system is tilted even further in favour of Boris Johnson's party. I hope Mr Coughlan's appeal is successful.
Mr Coughlan lost his case before the local elections last May – when voter ID was trialled – after the High Court found the voter ID pilots legal, but he will be appealing the decision in April:
The government has pushed forward with plans to roll out the policy nationwide since Mr Coughlan’s initial case, despite extensive research repeatedly indicating the issue of electoral fraud in the UK is negligible.
“I can’t see why so many innocent people have to be disenfranchised because of a few people who do something wrong,” Mr Coughlan told The Independent.
“We’ve got people who should vote but it’s hard to get them to vote. Making it harder again is just disenfranchising them for no good reason.”
He gained permission to appeal the High Court decision in October.
If his appeal is successful this year, it could strengthen the case against Boris Johnson’s controversial plans to roll out photo ID for voters nationwide, which critics have called a disproportionate response to an uncommon crime.
“This policy remains a sledgehammer to crack a nut,” Willie Sullivan from the Electoral Reform Society told The Independent.
According to the Electoral Commission, there was just one conviction for impersonation fraud – which identification at the ballot box aims to tackle – across the whole of 2017 and 2018.
In comparison, figures have estimated that 3.5 million eligible UK voters do not own photo ID and would have to sort out correct ID before elections if the measure were to go ahead.
The Electoral Commission found 2,000 people were turned away for lack of ID, with 800 people not returning to vote across the 10 constituencies trialled during May’s local elections.
Despite this, the PM is pushing forward with plans to roll out photo ID requirements for voters nationwide. The only explanation for this is that, as in the USA, these new requirements are being used as voter suppression.
Not many of those without a photo ID will vote Conservative, by discouraging them from voting, the system is tilted even further in favour of Boris Johnson's party. I hope Mr Coughlan's appeal is successful.
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I do not have a passport (cost £70), I do not have a driving licence (cost £1,213). I am a carer (receive £66 a week). If the government insists that I need to spend 19 weeks of my carer's allowance just in order to vote, then I am very minded to take myself off the electoral register.
It is voter suppression as in the US. However a way round it is to get a POSTAL VOTE ,anybody can have one (including carers). I have one.IT SHOULD BE WIDELY ADVERTISED RE THOSE WHO HAVE NOT GOT PHOTO ID>.
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