New proposals for voter identification.

oh just read a post earlier that says it is not needed for postal voting BUT I also have two friends who no longer drive because of age and disability and no valid passport.

What can they do?

Had the Govt given any guidence?

I have no idea how to get hold of photo ID.

I no longer have a valid passport and do not drive.

So what do people like me do? what will we do? I have a postal vote....will that continue?

Has anybody in a uniform stopped your mum in the street and asked to see her driving licence so she can prove who she is, and why she's there?

Has anybody stopped her accessing her rights as a citizen of this country, because she didn't have her bus pass with her?

Has anybody treated her like a second class citizen because she didn't have those things with her?

No. The answer's no. Not yet, anyway.

Oh bother! She’ll not be pleased to read my post as she’s late 80s not 90s

My mum, in her late 90s has a passport, a driving licence (which she no longer uses) and a bus pass all of which have her photo on them. She has no objection to an identity card. Why is it ‘giving up her rights’?

25Avalon

I thought the problem was with voters such as students registering to vote twice - once in their home town and once in their university town thus getting 2 votes. Thinking about it how would voter ID cards rectify this situation?

Still need photo ID for certain financial situations.

I know someone whose AC did that, voted at uni and at home. . Hard to see how photo ID would have prevented it, though.

There is a national identity card in France. It is not compulsory but everyone must possess some form of government issue identity documentation. The French are different to us Brits and have no objection to carrying one.

However, I see ID cards as just another way in which the police can intimidate certain groups of the population. I lived in Brixton during the riots and one reason for them were the stop and search powers. The powers are supposedly targeted and intelligence led and practiced upon people who are suspected of being involved in crime. That sounds reasonable but in fact those powers were frequently abused.

For this reason I am opposed to the carrying of ID cards. I quite understand that there are already several types of ID card in use - such as a driving licence. But I don't see a policeman stopping someone walking along the street being stopped and asked for one.

How easily people can be persuaded to give up their rights.

That's what I'm afraid of.

Flexagon has clearly pointed out several reasons why this proposed legislation is vital.

The idea is not new, and certainly not slipped under the radar, so I hope this time it becomes law.
Other countries have this so why not us?

What are protesters afraid of?

I have a postal vote. You register with your local council for one. You give your details and signature. The voting slip comes to your address with 2 return envelopes A and B. The slip goes in A which then goes inside B or the other way round to maintain anonymity for secret ballot purposes. It comes at least a week before the vote and you have to return it by a certain time or if you miss the post you can take it to the polling station in person where you just hand it in.

Or google can: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/971901/Application-to-vote-by-post.pdf

Yes. I’ve never done a postal vote so I don’t know the details but I imagine there is at least some level of security and ID checking. No method is perfect.

Perhaps someone who has done a postal vote can enlighten us

I was thinking that Alegrias. You beat me to it.

You mean like the address where they send your voting card?

You won't need it for a postal vote. It's for people who turn up at polling stations.

There is no need for it with postal votes because you'll have given an address to which the relevant paperwork (or electronic link) will be sent.

How will voter photo ID work if you have a postal vote? Just a thought.

GillT57

But we have never had any thought about voter fraud until this latest Queen's speech when the idea was planted in people's heads? Yes, I could pinch my neighbour's voting card when I visit and then go and vote as her, put on a wig and glasses and then vote as myself......but, why would I? The list is ticked as you enter the polling station so assuming my neighbour also voted, it would throw up an anomoly and be a security issue surely? Most polling stations are small affairs with a handful of people, to make multiple visits as different people would take a master of disguise and all day. Why would you?

Had thoughts of voter fraud since the Tower Hamlets scenario in 2012. How much more escapes the radar, especially with postal votes. Yes I know there are security measures, but where there is a will there is a way. Cynical, yes.

PippaZ

Lin52

rosie1959

Lin52

rosie1959

Alegrias1

A benefit for those without a passport or a driving license they will now have some photographic ID

Why do they need one? My mum's lasted 83 years without one, why start now?

Times are changing try opening a bank account or taking out a mortgage

Think she must have had an ID card during the war.

Did very young children have ID cards

Yes, every man, woman and child had to carry one.
www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/war/idcards.html

But we are not in a state of war and there really is no problem with voter impersonation or fraud. This is a solution in search of a problem. There isn't one.

No we are not, just pointing it out that we did have them rich and poor.

Good posts Flexagon ??

Baggs

It would be interesting to know if it’s the same people objecting now as it was to Tony Blair‘s proposal. And if not, hmmm ?

Yes. And for the same reasons

I thought the problem was with voters such as students registering to vote twice - once in their home town and once in their university town thus getting 2 votes. Thinking about it how would voter ID cards rectify this situation?

Still need photo ID for certain financial situations.

kircubbin2000

What a fuss about nothing. I used to be in charge of our polling station. It took seconds to look up the address and check the id.Everyone had photo proof or the free card. Without id you have no idea how many people are not who they claim to be. When my daughter went to vote last time her vote had already been taken.

You're not in the UK then kircubbin2000? Or was your polling station in one of the trials?

I was not suggesting voting multiple times just saying how easy it would be to use a card that belongs to someone else - something just confirmed by kircubbin2000.

In the 2019 General Election some large urban seats were won by less than a 2% majority amounting to a few hundred votes.

MerylStreep

GillT57
but we have never had any thought about voter fraud etc
You might not have had any thought about it, but I have.
I knew a social worker working in this borough when this was happening.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-47535867

And they caught him

So somebody could come along and say, oh but what about all the ones they didn't catch? We don't know how much of this goes on!

So there might be crime, that we don't know about, that nobody's complained about, but might be happening anyway, although there's no evidence of it, so we all need to give up some civil liberties just in case.

Don't think so.

What a fuss about nothing. I used to be in charge of our polling station. It took seconds to look up the address and check the id.Everyone had photo proof or the free card. Without id you have no idea how many people are not who they claim to be. When my daughter went to vote last time her vote had already been taken.