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Voter suppression: UK Voter ID

Tony L

Tony L

Administrator

This topic has been mentioned by many of us on many threads since this gerrymandering tactic was announced. Even so I think it merits a thread now ahead of the May elections to emphasise just how politically skewed the accepted ID formats are and how voting fraud is in reality a total non-issue. This is a far-right government attempting to make voting massively harder for young or poorer people. That is the only story here.

Any older members here with families need to ensure their children/grandchildren etc fully understand this as the suppression tactic it is. Likewise anyone who works with young adults in any context. It is designed to push them away from polling stations. They have just one month to get this Tory mandated ID if they want to change UK politics for the better. Please spread the word.

The Owen Jones video is well worth watching even if you don’t agree with him politically, like him or whatever. He articulates what many of us have spread across countless posts in many threads and does so concisely in 10 minutes or so. He is absolutely right on this one.
 
100% agree. The Gov adverts for this really get to me as to how smug these actors are looking to the idea of voter suppression
 
This action is illegal, there is no statute wrt this matter, nothing is written in any statute book or any mp ever voted for this.

This action is simply "A Whim" created out of thin air by the tory party.

What is required is a "Class Action" in law bought against the conservative party.

If I were younger and fitter and still in residence of London, I would instigate this in person, I have form defending in litigation actions. :eek::D
 
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The Elections Act 2022 covers it.

All the young people I know of have suitable ID so they can buy alcohol, tobacco, knives etc.
 
Oyster cards for the old are allowed but the same cards for students are not. Kind of gives the game away really for those not sharp enough to have got it...

https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/voter-id/accepted-forms-photo-id

There were zero cases of electoral personation last year.

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...ed-as-uk-data-shows-no-cases-of-impersonation

The PASS cards are interesting - why bother?

Will a bank or building society accept my PASS Card?
Alongside other documentation some banks will accept PASS cards to facilitate the opening of an account but please remember these are Proof of Age cards not proof of identity and may not be acceptable as such
 
Paul R said:
All the young people I know of have suitable ID so they can buy alcohol, tobacco, knives etc.
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I’m prepared to bet the vast majority of young folk in the area I live don’t have ID that is on the Tory list.

FWIW if I didn’t have an about to expire full passport I’d not have any Tory ID either. I don’t drive, I’m self employed, many years away from a retirement bus pass, and I have no other photo ID at all beyond a museum volunteer pass which wouldn’t count. This voter suppression extends way beyond the young.
 
How can they do this without a vote in the commons? You'd think election process would be number one thing that needed parlimentary approval ?
 
Tony L said:
I’m prepared to bet the vast majority of young folk in the area I live don’t have ID that is on the Tory list.

FWIW if I didn’t have an about to expire full passport I’d not have any Tory ID either. I don’t drive, I’m self employed, many years away from a retirement bus pass, and I have no other photo ID at all beyond a museum volunteer pass which wouldn’t count. This voter suppression extends way beyond the young.
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I would be very surprised if the young people were so clean living, or the shopkeepers and bar keepers so lax.

Your expired passport is fine until you no longer look like the photo.

I don't know why they've moved to photo id for in person voting, other than to bring GB into line with NI. I would have thought the opportunity for fraud was much higher with postal votes, so tightening repeat eligibility there would bring more security at minimal inconvenience. In person voting should be encouraged.

Are Labour pledged to undo this, regardless of how the next two elections run? Regardless, for the 'tory scum' yellers of PFM, opposition to a policy is much more effective if you are informed about the policy in the first place.
 
It'll still be down to the person in the polling station to approve the (valid) photo. The photo must be a good likeness and that gives room for "discretion" Some will be deliberately obstructional as in the US. I remember the local post office clark refusing to cash my Giro because he claimed not to be able to read my signature - as if that was ever the criterion.
 
Interesting statement from Good Law Project. They obviously believe it to be gerrymandering, it can’t be anything else, though acknowledge there is nothing they can do legally without further data and that will only come after elections. Good to see them monitoring the situation anyway.

As ever please consider supporting their work.
 
The main benefit for the Tories will be that it will create a kind of aura of confusion and difficulty around the voting process so that those already not inclined to vote will just stay at home. I remember having to explain to a lot of people while canvassing that they don’t need their (lost) voter registration cards or ID, they could just turn up.

I think this was one of about two actual policies in the Conservative manifesto? The other being the persecution of gypsies. It’s obviously pretty important to them in ways that other aspects of good governance are not. Equally obvious is that they’re out of ideas when it comes to running the country: persecution of minorities and voter suppression is the whole of modern conservatism, their only way of holding on to power long enough to finish the looting.

None of this would matter if the people it’s designed to exclude had any motivation to vote. But Labour are going out of their way to de-motivate young people, minorities and the poor. No one to blame but themselves if it actually works well enough to deny them a majority.
 
I doubt the Tories have run out of ideas Sean, more a case that the very wealthy have stuffed their pockets from it to the point everyone below won’t stomach any more. I can’t believe they expect to be voted again for a long time and are busy shoring up their next well paid jobs outside of the two Westminster parliamentary houses.
 
As a voter in the USA -we can teach you a thing or two about voter supresion; a.) ID -not needed but there could be massive numbers of vote fraud votes-no evidence of this ?? Heck -next you're going to tell me you don't believe in Satan and angels or alien abduction !! b.) Gerrymandering with computer assistance can really do the trick-districts look bizarre-but they are very likely to deliver the desired result.
Still -the best election stunt has tobe what Putin's party did to try and defeat a comptent and popular mayor (of Moscow ??) -they got three other guys to change their names to the real mayors name -couple of 'em looked a little like the real mayor -and run against him. Waiting for that one to happen here.
 
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