Friday, June 23, 2023
Voter suppression in action in the UK
The verdict is in. According to the Electoral Commission, about 14,000 people were turned away from polling stations at May’s local elections because they lacked the right ID, with the overall number denied a vote likely to be considerably higher.
The Guardian says that the interim study by the Electoral Commission also warned of “concerning” signs that voters with disabilities, people who are unemployed, or those from particular ethnic groups could be disproportionately affected by the policy.
The Electoral Commission also said that 4% of people who did not vote said it was because of voter ID – a tally that could run into hundreds of thousands more:
Campaigners have warned that the policy targeted a barely-existing problem of voter impersonation, and risked particularly affecting people from disadvantaged groups.
The Electoral Commission said data collected at polling stations across 230 councils in England on 4 May found that 0.7% of voters were initially turned away for lacking the correct ID, with 63% of these returning, meaning around 14,000 people were confirmed as being denied a vote.
However, the report said, the actual figure was likely to be higher given that almost 40% of polling stations used “greeters”, tasked with telling voters before they went in that ID was needed.
If a person left before going into the polling station they were not recorded in the data. Polling stations that used greeters showed notably lower average rates of people turned away than those that did not – 0.55% against 0.8%.
The statistics were additionally likely to underestimate the extent of the problem because data from some polling stations was “incomplete or inaccurate”, the report added.
The commission carried out separate polling to determine why some people did not vote, which found that 4% blamed the new ID rules – of these, three-quarters said they lacked the necessary documents, while the remainder disagreed with the policy.
Although the total electorate and turnout for May’s elections have not yet been published, if they are similar to previous years it could mean at least 400,000 people decided not to vote because of the new rules.
While a broader report in September will examine demographic factors, the commission said initial evidence suggested voter ID disproportionately affected people who have disabilities or are unemployed, with some correlation also apparent with factors such as ethnicity.
It is clear then that the objective of this policy, to stop certain groups of people from voting, was achieved. It's just a shame that this included lots of Tories.
The Guardian says that the interim study by the Electoral Commission also warned of “concerning” signs that voters with disabilities, people who are unemployed, or those from particular ethnic groups could be disproportionately affected by the policy.
The Electoral Commission also said that 4% of people who did not vote said it was because of voter ID – a tally that could run into hundreds of thousands more:
Campaigners have warned that the policy targeted a barely-existing problem of voter impersonation, and risked particularly affecting people from disadvantaged groups.
The Electoral Commission said data collected at polling stations across 230 councils in England on 4 May found that 0.7% of voters were initially turned away for lacking the correct ID, with 63% of these returning, meaning around 14,000 people were confirmed as being denied a vote.
However, the report said, the actual figure was likely to be higher given that almost 40% of polling stations used “greeters”, tasked with telling voters before they went in that ID was needed.
If a person left before going into the polling station they were not recorded in the data. Polling stations that used greeters showed notably lower average rates of people turned away than those that did not – 0.55% against 0.8%.
The statistics were additionally likely to underestimate the extent of the problem because data from some polling stations was “incomplete or inaccurate”, the report added.
The commission carried out separate polling to determine why some people did not vote, which found that 4% blamed the new ID rules – of these, three-quarters said they lacked the necessary documents, while the remainder disagreed with the policy.
Although the total electorate and turnout for May’s elections have not yet been published, if they are similar to previous years it could mean at least 400,000 people decided not to vote because of the new rules.
While a broader report in September will examine demographic factors, the commission said initial evidence suggested voter ID disproportionately affected people who have disabilities or are unemployed, with some correlation also apparent with factors such as ethnicity.
It is clear then that the objective of this policy, to stop certain groups of people from voting, was achieved. It's just a shame that this included lots of Tories.
