Vocal Voices

In our next council election this year voters who turn up at the polling station will have to show photo ID in order to vote.
However people who vote by post will obviously not.
So this move which is intended to reduce fraudulent voting might end up actually increasing it.

It seems very strange to me.

Well, to get a postal vote you need to be on the electoral register, and that requires name address, postcode, DoB, NI number and signature - all digitally stored. Then, to get a postal vote, you will need the address of the postal vote and reason, if it is different from your electoral register address, plus your DoB. NI number and signature, also digitally read, which will be checked against the (digital) electoral register, so there are some checks in place. Not perfect, but better than nothing.

As for photo ID, there are many accepted types:
Driving licence
Passport
OAP bus pass
Disabled bus pass
Blue badge
Oyster card 60+
Services ID card (MOD, Police et.)
A PASS card (proof of age)

Most of us will have one or more of these. If we don't we can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate by supplying a digital photo and NI number along with the form.

I have had a postal vote for several years.
Have recently had a form which I have had to sign and return to say that I am the person named on the form, there have not been any changes.
This is a legal requirement to keep the electoral register up to date. It hasnothing to do with the local electons which are due soon.

The bigger issue, I guess, is the number of people who won't have the free certificate or even know about it.

Time for the government to run a comprehensive ad campaign across all platforms. It might reach me that way because I don't watch adverts or live TV or even recoded TV if I can avoid it. There may be others like me who don't have id.

You do not have any UK ID? Not even an out of date driving licence which you can update free of charge? Is your passport French?

Either way, you can register to vote as an overseas voter if you wish, and opt for a postal or proxy vote. It is up to you to decide.

I wasn't talking about me, I was thinking about millions of people who don't drive, are married without most evidence and need this to vote.

I have all the evidence I would need to vote and keep it up to date. But I also run change projects!

I agree with you, Suff, there will be many people without photo ID. I was one of them until 2012, when I obtained my first UK passport. There is a TV ad, but I've only caught it once or twice - this change should be far more widely advertised.

If a person does not have one of the acceptable types of photo ID and there were to be no alternatives then it would be a problem. However, there is an alternative, the Voter Authority Certificate.

The information is on the polling card sent to everyone who is registered to vote.

[tic] Of course none of this would be a problem if we had national ID cards. [/tic]

Not rising to the bait WM.

I have no photo ID