From May 2023, for the first time, voters will need to show photo ID before voting in local elections. From October general elections will also require ID. Requiring Photo ID will stop people who have the right to vote from voting.* It is undemocratic, immoral, and does not make elections more secure in any reasonable and proportionate way.*
At the local elections in England on May 4th you have the chance to protest.
When someone asks for a ballot and is refused for lack of ID, the polling station staff have to record this on an official form.* When the person goes back with ID and claims their ballot, this form has to be updated. The information on this form will be recorded centrally. The more people who have their votes refused, the more the problem of photo ID is highlighted.
Will this work as a protest? Almost certainly not. It would be great to see this law scrapped in time for the next general election. Failing that it would be great for the main political parties to put this into their manifestos for the next election. Will this protest accomplish that? That's unlikely. But if you're angry about this change, and want to protest just a little bit, then don't you want to do something? Accepting photo ID as normal at this election means it's likely to become a permanent harmful fixture of British politics. So why not fight it?
Its appalling. Voter ID is a solution without a problem: study after study has found that in-person impersonation is not an issue… To disenfranchise them in this way will make our society fall further apart when it needs to come closer together.
Fraser Nelson, Editor, The Spectator
Share this information with other people. Copy and paste this website into Facebook, Twitter, Mastadon. Whatsapp your friends. Tell your mates down the pub or at the school gate or over coffee. Use the images below or make your own.
You can also write to your MP and complain.* Explain that Photo ID to vote in England is wrong, and you're angry about it. Ask them where they stand and what they're going to do about it.
Evidence from around the world shows that forcing voters to bring photographic ID to the polling station just makes it harder for people to vote – while doing little to increase faith in the integrity of the system. The Government think their scheme could cost up to £180,000,000 a decade. We don’t need to spend millions to put up barriers to people taking part in our democracy.
The Electoral Reform Society
Your polling station may have "greeters"* who will ask people at the entrance if they have ID. This is a sensible idea from local councils, but it means that people may turn back before their attempt is registered by the election officials. It is important that you go in and attempt to get your ballot anyway. Make sure your attempt to get your ballot is recorded.
This website is not legal advice. If you're worried that your vote won't count, you should bring ID at your first visit. However, the guidance for people running polling stations is clear that they expect people to come without ID, be refused, then come back with ID.* If you are registered to vote, you have a right to use it. If you are refused your ballot paper on return, you should immediately contact your local council's electoral services team.*
"In the 2019 election, there was just one conviction for voter fraud. 3.5 million British citizens do not have a photo ID. This is a cynical and ugly attempt to rig the system to disempower the poorest and most marginalised groups."
David Lammy, Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.
There's nothing stopping you walking out of the door and immediately walking back in with ID. However, leaving your ID at home or work allows you to honestly say "I don't have any photo ID with me". It's important that there is no attempt to trick the election officials. You're turning up to vote with out photo ID, getting refused, then coming back later with the correct ID.
It's yet another unnecessary ID card approach from the government,… There's no evidence that I'm aware of that there is a problem with voter fraud at polling stations.
…
It's illiberal. It's an illiberal solution in pursuit of a non-existent problem. If you've got an ID card, you're putting a barrier in the way of people to exercise their own democratic rights, which is not necessary and shouldn't be there.
David Davis, Conservative MP and former cabinet minister.
Electoral fraud is wrong. People who commit it should be prosecuted. Fortunately in England electoral fraud caused by people impersonating someone else at the polling station is almost non-existent.* In some countries Photo ID to vote makes sense. However in England all the evidence is that Photo ID laws only make it harder for people to vote who have the right to vote. It ends up penalising people who haven't got the right forms of ID, aren't as organised as others, or just forget their ID at home.
When this law was introduced it was described as giving security to elections. Objectively it does make elections more secure. But in doing so it also prevents people from voting who should vote. For a marginal tiny gain in security it disenfranchises thousands. It's as if the government passed a law preventing every single window from being opened above the first floor because very rarely someone pushes something out of the window and it falls on someone's head. They've made windows more secure, but at a vastly excessive cost to society. In a democratic society, every eligible voter should be empowered and encouraged to vote. Barriers should be removed, not go up. A law like this, that actively harms society, is immoral.
If I am ever asked, on the streets of London, or in any other venue, public or private, to produce my ID card as evidence that I am who I say I am, when I have done nothing wrong and am simply ambling along and breathing God's fresh air like any other freeborn Englishman, then I will take that card out of my wallet and physically eat it in the presence of whatever emanation of the state has demanded I produce it.
Boris Johnson, Former Prime Minister
Your job is amazing. Please keep all the guidelines and rules. Do not do anything to compromise any election or your job. Please accurately record every voter who is turned away on the Voter ID evaluation notes and Voter identification evaluation form.
Hi, my name is Mark Walley. I made this in my free time because I was angry about Photo ID. The idea was suggested to me by my friend Sarah. I am not part of any political party and I have not received any money to do this. You can contact me on mark@comebackwithid.co.uk. This website does not use cookies, ask for your data, or track you.
To the extent possible under law,
Mark Walley
has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to
come back with ID.
This work is published from the
United Kingdom.