Monday, May 10, 2021
Government to introduce ID cards by the back door
American-style voter suppression is alive and well and about to come to the UK, at least that is what is now being proposed to appear in the Queen's Speech tomorrow, as the Tories are poised to insist that Britons will have to show photo ID to vote in future general elections.
This proposal is being mooted in the absence of any evidence of electoral fraud in the UK, in 2019 there was just one conviction and one police caution for impersonating another voter. That does not seem to deter Ministers, especially as a major consequence of this 'reform' is likely to be deterring poorer and ethnic minority voters from taking part in our democracy, a group of individuals that rarely support the Conservatives anyway.
But what if you do not have any ID? About a quarter of voters – often younger voters – do not have either a passport or driving licence. According to the Guardian,the government plans to overcome this by allowing people to apply for a voting ID card from their local council, although this would have to be done before polling day - so cheap ID cards by the back door, without the expensive database and all the paraphanalia that goes with them. Early trials in some areas led to hundreds of voters being turned away.
The paper points out that American civil rights groups have already warned Britons that such measures are often used to disfranchise voters who do not have the required paperwork. The changes would affect UK-wide and English elections, while voters in Northern Ireland are already required to show identification before voting.
It is only a matter of time before stop and search regimes will be stepped up for certain groups, requiring them to produce these ID cards.
This proposal is being mooted in the absence of any evidence of electoral fraud in the UK, in 2019 there was just one conviction and one police caution for impersonating another voter. That does not seem to deter Ministers, especially as a major consequence of this 'reform' is likely to be deterring poorer and ethnic minority voters from taking part in our democracy, a group of individuals that rarely support the Conservatives anyway.
But what if you do not have any ID? About a quarter of voters – often younger voters – do not have either a passport or driving licence. According to the Guardian,the government plans to overcome this by allowing people to apply for a voting ID card from their local council, although this would have to be done before polling day - so cheap ID cards by the back door, without the expensive database and all the paraphanalia that goes with them. Early trials in some areas led to hundreds of voters being turned away.
The paper points out that American civil rights groups have already warned Britons that such measures are often used to disfranchise voters who do not have the required paperwork. The changes would affect UK-wide and English elections, while voters in Northern Ireland are already required to show identification before voting.
It is only a matter of time before stop and search regimes will be stepped up for certain groups, requiring them to produce these ID cards.
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The more the Conservatives restrict peoples voting rights the better for them.They know that so they will do whatever to bring it about.The more they deter people to vote people will think what is the point of voting.A slow insidious disenfranchisement of people.People ,I believe, do not know enough of the electoral system(or even of Govnt roles) to know they are being robbed.
Also 'thru the back door' since retiring my private pension (small though it is) has not shown tax. Now EVEN THOUGH IT HAS GONE UP BY PENNIES tax has been charged. Are the govnt raising taxes by stealth?
There have been cases of electoral fraud in England, but not from voting in person. I have attended counts in various places at all levels of government for over thirty years and have come across only one case of personation, and that was down to a misunderstanding rather than an attempt to rig the vote.
More pernicious is the misuse of proxy votes. One wonders whether the law in this area will be strengthened, bearing in mind that Conservative activists have beneefited from that as much as anyone.
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More pernicious is the misuse of proxy votes. One wonders whether the law in this area will be strengthened, bearing in mind that Conservative activists have beneefited from that as much as anyone.
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