Photographic ID needed for next GE

Ooops! Snap, SirChenjin.

There was also a national census in 1939, which is available online.

Great minds!

Maizie, I can hardly believe that you need to be told why we need voter ID. I am absolutely sure you know as well as I do about voting scams that have occurred in previous elections, particularly with postal votes.
You are simply against it because Boris has suggested it. The previous PM that suggested it was Tony Blair. They are both right, and in my opinion there are a lot of other things where eligibility should be proven before access is given, out NHS immediately comes to mind.

Trisher, there were ID cards during WW2, my mother has told me that on many occasions. She was a young woman during the war. It astounds me that you don’t know that.

It's much easier to influence a vote with fraud in local elections rather than a GE because turnout is usually very low. Sometimes a councillor can be elected with just a few hundred votes, so a rogue landlord or somebody with a large family could in theory steal the voting cards or return postal votes. It's much less likely to have an effect in a GE because thousands of votes are cast.

I don't object to voter ID in theory, but there needs to be considerable investment in educating the public as to what's required and providing FREE ID, issued perhaps by council offices (who need to be given extra money to administer the scheme).

I have my doubts as to whether it's a good use of public funds.

We've already established that maddyone. Trisher was asking a question because she was unsure.

I agree with you growstuff, ID cards should be free, and every adult should have one. Other countries have them without problems, why should it be more difficult for the UK?

Yes thank you growstuff, I’d posted only having scanned the posts quickly as I’m about to go out.

maddyone I was born at the end of WW2. I had ration cards and numerous memorabilia. My mum who died aged 94 lived through the Hull blitz and my dad was stationed on the outskirts of Hull.The day they were married Hull was split in two to stage a mock invasion. My mum often told the story of how my dad didn't fit into his dress uniform because he had gained weight so he wore his khakis which fortunately had his army pay book in his pocket to ID him. If ID cards were needed he would have been held as a suspected invader. If ID was used in WW2 anyway it wouldn't have been photo ID.

maddyone I am against it because there is absolutely no evidence that it is needed. I already posted the Electoral Commission's report on the 2017 general election. Let me remind you, out of nearly 32 million votes cast in that election there was only one conviction for 'personation'. Hardly evidence of widespread voter fraud calling for draconian measures to eliminate it.

You are simply against it because Boris has suggested it.

What a childish remark. Try thinking like an adult...

No Trisher, you’re right, I’ve seen Mum’s card, no photo. Just a card with who she was.

Maizie, perhaps you could try to not be rude. But maybe not!

No no no. I do not think this is a good idea. As others have said, it can disenfranchise and marginalise those without it.
Furthermore, I would also not want to live in a country where I had to cary ID.

Most voter fraud is through the postal system. That’s the area that really needs attention in my opinion. Although having said that, my daughter had her postal vote rejected last time as her signature was apparently unlike her last one!

Apologies maddyone they were issued. I wonder what happened to our family's? I remember we had ration cards and other stuff. I wonder if people deliberately destroyed them? Only Government employees had photos. www.objectlessons.org/conflict-and-protest-20th-century-to-present/identity-cards-world-war-ii-original-/s74/a922/
They'd be forged in no time today!!!

I'm more concerned about the low turnout in some elections, especially local elections. It seems some people think "politicians are all the same" and they don't bother. Even local councils are cumulatively responsible for billions of pounds for projects which do affect people's lives.

In the areas which ran trials in the last local elections, some people were turned away because they had no ID. Apparently, some of them didn't come back. Maybe some of them were trying to defraud the system, but it's more likely they had made an effort to turn up once and didn't have the time to return. Voting in local elections is much higher when there's a general election at the same time.

I also know from experience that people in deprived areas are often too despondent to vote. Voter ID seems like placing an additional hurdle in the way of reluctant voters.

Although I don't object to voter ID, I think there needs to be a massive campaign to persuade people that their votes do matter, which I have a massive problem with because in a FPTP system their votes *don't matter.

Maizie, perhaps you could try to not be rude. But maybe not!

Why should I be polite when people say outrageously childish things to me?

Interesting article trisher. My mother always knew her NHS number because it was the same as her registration number and she knew it off by heart.

If you look at the 1939 census records, it's obvious that some attempt was made to keep them up to doubt because there are hand-written notes. These days it would just need a click of a button on a computer.

Nowadays so much information is held on us that fraud should be much more difficult. The Government Gateway system is an attempt to centralise information.

NotSpaghetti You already live in a country where loads of data is held on you digitally.

Corbyn has just said there was only one instance of voter impersonation in the last election. I imagine their research resources are better than ours. There can only be one reason for doing this and that is to disenfranchise the poor.

What about using your NI number?

Personally I have no problem with identity cards, which should be free. If each had a number on it those who vote by post (no you can't vote online) would have to quote the number and surely there must be a simple way of checking such number is only used once.

I would be happy to have a chip inserted to save me looking amongst all my cards and have to wave it at an appropriate machine whenever I used a public service . That would save a lot of staff at the polling station too!

Bus passes are often not accepted as proof of ID, probably because they are so easy to obtain. You can't even join the library etc without ID so there really would be very few people affected.

We do not know how much electoral fraud there is, we only know the numbers convicted of it which is obviously not the whole picture. I think many believe there is electoral fraud though.

Not a fan of BJ at all but do think this is a step in the right direction. He can't be all bad can he?

He can't be all bad can he? Yes he can.

Students can register to vote at home and at university. What's to stop them voting twice? Does anyone know if this happens?

Even if you believe that ID cards are a good idea, when it comes to the chance of disenfranchising possibly thousands of people balanced against one case of impersonation in the last election this can surely not be a justifiably reason to undertake this move towards it.

Postal votes are surely far more open to manipulation/fraud than in-person voting - I presume that there is absolutely nothing to prevent a controlling partner (or even someone from outside the home in some cases) from ensuring that the person(s) under their control vote (s) a particular way?

I am not sure how this can be addressed, and certainly don't see how photo ID can be used to prevent it.

I agree that it's the postal votes which are more open to abuse.

But I don't see a problem with taking ID to vote.