{"id":28420,"date":"2023-09-12T13:22:18","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T20:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=28420"},"modified":"2023-09-12T13:22:20","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T20:22:20","slug":"voter-id-in-england-led-to-racial-and-disability-discrimination-report-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/09\/12\/voter-id-in-england-led-to-racial-and-disability-discrimination-report-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Voter ID in England led to racial and disability discrimination, report finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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At local elections in England in May voters had to show photo ID at polling stations.\u00a0Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine\/REX\/Shutterstock<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exclusive: All-party report on rules governing 2023 local elections calls voter ID system a \u2018poisoned cure\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kiran Stacey<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Peter Walker<\/a> Mon 11 Sep 2023 00.00 EDT (TheGuardian.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Controversial rules governing voter identification led to racial and disability discrimination at this year\u2019s local elections in England, according to a damning report co-written by one of the former ministers responsible for introducing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MPs and peers on the all-party parliamentary group on democracy and the constitution will publish a report on Monday saying the rules caused more harm than they prevented when they came into force in May, and will call for changes, including the acceptance of a greater range of ID documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report was co-authored by Sir Robert Buckland, who was the justice secretary in 2021 when the bill to introduce the rules was first launched in parliament, and who subsequently helped vote them through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee is chaired by the Scottish National party MP John Nicolson and also includes Labour MPs and peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report, which has been seen by the Guardian, says: \u201cThe current voter-ID system is, as it stands, a \u2018poisoned cure\u2019 in that it disenfranchises more electors than it protects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors found that \u201cpolling clerks are more likely to fail to compare a photo ID to the person presenting that document if the person is of a different ethnicity\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They highlighted the case of Andrea Barrett, who is immunocompromised and was blocked from entering a polling station after refusing to remove her mask for an identification check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report says: \u201cTheir decision in that instance was \u2026 clearly discriminatory (and potentially unlawful) because they denied Andrea Barrett the right to cast a ballot purely on the basis of circumstances which arose as a direct result of a disability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rules, which were used for a full election for the first time in May after a series of small-scale pilots, mean voters now have to show photographic identification at the polling station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Boris Johnson first introduced the proposals to parliament in 2021, Downing Street said they were designed to prevent potential election fraud, despite only three people having been convicted for identity fraud at polling stations in the previous seven years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ministers limited the types of identification that could be accepted, and included, for example, older people\u2019s travel passes, but not those of younger voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An interim study<\/a> published by the Electoral Commission earlier this year found at least 14,000 people had been denied a vote because they lacked the correct form of ID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission, which will publish a full report later this year, urged ministers to consider adapting the system to ensure people were not excluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anecdotal evidence in the all-party group report suggested some people may have been unfairly treated because of their race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It says: \u201cA disproportionate number of electors who were not permitted to vote appeared to be non-white passing. By contrast, all of those who were observed being permitted to vote without presenting ID were white-passing.\u201dskip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there is no evidence this changed the outcome of the local elections, the APPG report warns that if repeated at a general election, it could help swing the results of up to 16 constituencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also says the rules are too reliant on decisions made by polling clerks and returning agents, which can be arbitrary and are not open to appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report\u2019s authors call for ministers to broaden the types of documents that can be accepted as identification, and to allow those who fail ID checks to sign a legally binding declaration instead confirming their identity. They also call for more training to be given to returning officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buckland said: \u201cI supported the scheme when it was introduced and continue to support it on the basis that it addresses a potential weakness in our voting system and brings us into line with other European states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, it is right to review the scheme to ensure it works as intended and, where problems are identified (as they have been in the report) they should be addressed and remedied. Voting should be secure but it shouldn\u2019t be difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which is responsible for electoral policy, said it was \u201ccommitted to ensuring everyone has the opportunity to have their say in our democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They added: \u201cThe government has always been confident in the ability of local authorities to implement the voter identification changes whilst continuing to deliver our elections robustly and securely, as they always do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 This article was amended on 11 September 2023. Polling \u201cbooth\u201d had been used instead of polling \u201cstation\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At local elections in England in May voters had to show photo ID at polling stations.\u00a0Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine\/REX\/Shutterstock Exclusive: All-party report on rules governing 2023 local elections calls voter ID system a \u2018poisoned cure\u2019 Kiran Stacey\u00a0and\u00a0Peter Walker Mon 11 Sep 2023 00.00 EDT (TheGuardian.com) Controversial rules governing voter identification led… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1056],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28420"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28422,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28420\/revisions\/28422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}