Voter ID plan ‘will make it difficult for minorities’
THE UK government’s elections bill has been slammed by a shadow minister on Monday (5), stating that the proposal to make photo identification mandatory for voting will make it harder for Asian and minority ethnic Britons to vote.
Calling the changes proposed in the bill “a Trumpian tactic”, shadow secretary for democracy Cat Smith said the need for voter ID is a “total waste of taxpayers’ money” and the Tories are engaging in a “blatant voter suppression”.
“It doesn’t matter how the government tries to dress it up, these plans will make it harder for working-class, older and black, Asian and minority ethnic Britons to vote,” said Smith. “They know this is the case because their own research shows that millions of our fellow citizens lack photo ID in this country.”
Under its proposed elections bill, the government wants to make it mandatory for voters to have a photo ID – a passport, driving license, blue badge, travel pass with a photograph or a proof of age card – in order to vote. It will bring the rest of the UK in line with Northern Ireland, where photo identification has been used since 2003.
Claiming that the overhaul will make elections more secure by cracking down on in-person voter fraud, the minister for the constitution and devolution, Chloe Smith, said: “The bill will strengthen the integrity of our elections, by increasing transparency, fairness and accountability; providing more protection for candidates and voters; and making our polls more inclusive.”
Experts reportedly believe that a requirement of all voters to carry identification might cost the taxpayer about £40 million over the next decade, pointing to a cabinet office-commissioned study released in May which claimed that more than two million voters might lack the necessary ID to take part in future polls.
Meanwhile, prime minister Boris Johnson has been warned by a survey that he might “accidentally disenfranchise” some of the Tory voters from the north of England if he chooses to push ahead with the plans of making photo ID mandatory to cast votes.