Voter ID

Apparently your out-of-date passport would have been accepted, if the picture still looked like you

Even my up-to-date passport photo doesn't look like me!

Callistemon21

^Apparently your out-of-date passport would have been accepted, if the picture still looked like you^

Even my up-to-date passport photo doesn't look like me!

Recently returned from a cruise and I was sent to the desk for a check because the electronic check didn’t think my passport picture look like me.

Or would be horrified if I looked like my passport photo- my near relationship to Rosa Klebb all too apparent

Foxygloves

Oh put the violins away @*Fleurpepper*.
There is nothing elitist in bus passes!
Nor was this introduced suddenly, at short notice or without notice.
Clearly and deliberately to discriminate against poorer members of society
Come off it - rammy in an empty room?

1 year is a very short time in history, after many so so many decades of being able to vote with official ID.

And to not acknowledge that there are many people without a driving licence or passport- and that a Bus pass is limited to one age group! Nothing elitist in Young Person's Travel card either, but it didn't count.

Many people are disenfranchised in so many ways, and for many it would have been difficult to get suitable ID. Lovely little bubble you live in.

I agree. One year is a short time for things to change, even if you’re being reminded that the change is going to happen.
It didn’t feel like that when I was waiting for my pay rise after being underpaid for such a long time, but that was for something I wanted to happen.

‘For many it would have been difficult to get suitable ID’. There was plenty of information and it wasn’t difficult.

Mollygo

I agree. One year is a short time for things to change, even if you’re being reminded that the change is going to happen.
It didn’t feel like that when I was waiting for my pay rise after being underpaid for such a long time, but that was for something I wanted to happen.

How long is ‘not short?’

2 years, 5 years, 10 years?

A year is reasonable.

My daughter had her postal vote rejected. They are checked against a signature on file.

From the website
Apply for photo ID to vote
It’s free to apply. You’ll need
a recent, digital photo of yourself
your National Insurance number
You can still apply if you do not have a National Insurance number. You’ll need to provide other documents to prove your identity, for example a birth certificate, bank statement and utility bill.
Start now

Other ways to apply

You can also apply by post.

There’s a different form for applying by post if you live abroad, you’re in the armed forces, a Crown Servant or a British Council employee.

You’ll need to print, fill out and send the form to your local Electoral Registration Office.

Get help applying
You can get help applying from your local Electoral Registration Office

There’s an easy read guide about applying for a Voter Authority Certificate

Glorianny

I was thinking before I got my bus pass my only ID would have been my passport. There was a period when I let it get out of date, would it have been accepted I wonder?
All irrelevant anyway I have a postal vote and nobody checks. I could give the form to someone let them decide and as long as I signed no one would know. Perhaps the focus for stopping voting fraud should be elsewhere.

My point exactly.

Germanshepherdsmum

‘For many it would have been difficult to get suitable ID’. There was plenty of information and it wasn’t difficult.

It was not difficult for you, or for me, and for many people with our lifestyle and education- indeed. It was for many others, for all sorts of reasons. Step out of your bubble ...

Froglady

Glorianny

I was thinking before I got my bus pass my only ID would have been my passport. There was a period when I let it get out of date, would it have been accepted I wonder?
All irrelevant anyway I have a postal vote and nobody checks. I could give the form to someone let them decide and as long as I signed no one would know. Perhaps the focus for stopping voting fraud should be elsewhere.

My point exactly.

And if you had enough money and wanted to you could buy postal votes. You'd just need to go round a bit before election day, check what people were putting and pay them. If you were feeling generous you could post their vote for them!

Foxygloves

From the website
Apply for photo ID to vote
It’s free to apply. You’ll need
a recent, digital photo of yourself
your National Insurance number
You can still apply if you do not have a National Insurance number. You’ll need to provide other documents to prove your identity, for example a birth certificate, bank statement and utility bill.
Start now

Other ways to apply

You can also apply by post.

There’s a different form for applying by post if you live abroad, you’re in the armed forces, a Crown Servant or a British Council employee.

You’ll need to print, fill out and send the form to your local Electoral Registration Office.

Get help applying
You can get help applying from your local Electoral Registration Office

^There’s an easy read guide about applying for a Voter Authority Certificate^

You do realise, I hope, that not everyone has access to the Internet.

I’m not in a bubble Fleurpepper. Who are these ‘many’ (your favourite word?) others and what are these ‘all sorts of reasons’? Pray enlighten me.

Fleurpepper

Foxygloves

From the website
Apply for photo ID to vote
It’s free to apply. You’ll need
a recent, digital photo of yourself
your National Insurance number
You can still apply if you do not have a National Insurance number. You’ll need to provide other documents to prove your identity, for example a birth certificate, bank statement and utility bill.
Start now

Other ways to apply

You can also apply by post.

There’s a different form for applying by post if you live abroad, you’re in the armed forces, a Crown Servant or a British Council employee.

You’ll need to print, fill out and send the form to your local Electoral Registration Office.

Get help applying
You can get help applying from your local Electoral Registration Office

^There’s an easy read guide about applying for a Voter Authority Certificate^

You do realise, I hope, that not everyone has access to the Internet.

You’d never guess from the prolific posting on Gransnet (and Mumsnet)
How good to have something other than Brexit or the lamentable state of the U.K. to get het up about.
BTW it says you can get help applying

Germanshepherdsmum

I’m not in a bubble Fleurpepper. Who are these ‘many’ (your favourite word?) others and what are these ‘all sorts of reasons’? Pray enlighten me.

Your reply indicates that you do indeed ...

If people haven’t/didn’t have the wherewithal to apply for the much publicised free ID certificate perhaps they also haven’t got the wherewithal to vote?

in your bubble, yes. This is not how democracy works.

I await enlightenment Fleurpepper. Is that difficult for you?

No, just too obvious to bother.

when voting figures are regularly under 30% often low as %23% in some areas its clear that two things are at work: disaffection and difficulty. Those instructions above are too complicated and demanding for many to manage. Reading ages? Families in crisis struggling with housing or feeding themselves or somehow managing the benefits system? some Elderly or ill, mentally or physically in capacitated to cope with so many complex things we manage day by day.

We ignore this at our peril, peril to our democracy.

I've been thinking that we need to make it really accessible. Like

"Go to your local PO with proof of your name and address and clear personal ID. There will be a photo booth and help to fill in the forms and you will be sent your voter ID"

Fleurpepper

No, just too obvious to bother.

Or CBA?
I find some of this faux outrage unconvincing.
Just another excuse to clutch those pearls, take a pop at something in the UK
Perhaps the system could be simplified. How about photo ID cards for all?
Ooh cue another outburst of indignation.
Could we perhaps hear what other countries require in the way of ID both in general and in particular.

A valid point Wyllow but what would be considered sufficient personal ID? Other than those examples already identified.

GrannyGravy13

If people haven’t/didn’t have the wherewithal to apply for the much publicised free ID certificate perhaps they also haven’t got the wherewithal to vote?

Personally, I suspect that there a few people who don't have the wherewithal to vote wisely, but we are supposed to live in a one person/one vote democracy and I don't think we should be introducing some kind of intelligence test to see whether people are worthy of a vote.

Wyllow3

when voting figures are regularly under 30% often low as %23% in some areas its clear that two things are at work: disaffection and difficulty. Those instructions above are too complicated and demanding for many to manage. Reading ages? Families in crisis struggling with housing or feeding themselves or somehow managing the benefits system? some Elderly or ill, mentally or physically in capacitated to cope with so many complex things we manage day by day.

We ignore this at our peril, peril to our democracy.

I've been thinking that we need to make it really accessible. Like

"Go to your local PO with proof of your name and address and clear personal ID. There will be a photo booth and help to fill in the forms and you will be sent your voter ID"

Thank you Willow- as said, this is so obvious. Many people live in precarious conditions, one way or another.

And I did say I was happy to discuss proper ID, as exist in most other countries indeed.