‘I won’t let voter ID rules stop me...’
I am someone who likes to vote. I have never missed an election, local or national, since I was 18 – and that was a long time ago, writes reporter Alan Smith.
I always feel those who can’t be bothered to vote have no right to complain when the government or their local council does something they disagree with.
I am also someone who likes to vote in person – postal votes just seem too easy and casually done – though I fully accept they are essential for those with mobility problems.
I like to go to the polling station, mark my X and put my ballot in the box. When doing so, I feel I’m sharing in that powerful tradition dating back to Athens in the 5th century BC.
The new rules this year on having to show a photo ID before you cast your ballot therefore left me a bit stumped.
The idea is to cut down on election fraud by impersonation. Before they can vote, everyone will have to show one of the following acceptable forms of photo ID: a UK of Commonwealth passport, photo driving licence, a Blue Badge, an Older Person’s Bus Pass, a Disabled Person’s Bus Pass or an Oyster 60+ Card.
The introduction of photo identification at council elec
tions has divided opinion with campaign groups saying it could lead to significant numbers being disenfranchised. In particular, it could impact socially disadvantaged people, who are more likely not to have a driving licence or passport. There are also concerns about the recruitment of staff to oversee
and manage polling stations, with some authorities suggesting that there is apprehension at the prospect of having to deal with those who do not have proper ID.
Most people of course will simply show their driving licence, but mine predates the introduction of photo licences, which
was 1998. Never having been a naughty boy and lost my licence, I still have my original – though it is a bit tatty!
I am also lucky enough to be in good health and so do not have a Blue Badge. I’m not sure whether I would qualify for an older person’s bus pass, but in any case I don’t have one.
A passport? I’ve certainly had one, but I don’t think I’ve been abroad since Covid. It has almost certainly expired and an extensive rummage through my sock drawer failed to locate it. At the same time, I was keen not to end up as one of 5,460 voters in my own borough of Maidstone who it has been estimated will end up disenfranchised this May because they have no ID. So it seemed the only thing to do was to apply for the new Voter Authority Certificate – an official substitute for those with no ID.
You do this online at www. tinyurl.com/voterIDkm.
They send the details to your borough council, which is responsible for running the elections locally, and the council sends you a certificate through the post. It was easy.
All I had to do was tick a few boxes, tell them my National Insurance number (which I found on my payslip) and submit an electronic passport-style photo of myself – non-smiling, plain background.
I got my wife to take the photo on my mobile phone in the landing corridor of our house – it has a nice pale blue emulsion.
The whole process took about two minutes – and it is free! Sceptical that it could not possibly be that easy, I sat back expecting a long wait.
Not so. I made my online application on March 6. Just seven days later, the certificate landed on my doormat. NowallIhavetodoistodecide who to vote for on May 4! Nationally, of the 47m registered voters, an estimated two million or 4% do not have suitable ID. A snapshot of councils in Kent reveals many have received only a handful of applications to date.
Gravesham, which has an electorate of 76,069, has received 47 – when an estimated 3,042 could in theory need certificates based on the national figure.
Ashford, with an electorate of about 89,553, has had 52, when 3,582 might need certificates. Maidstone received 77 applications which equates to around 0.06% of the electorate. Medway, which as a unitary authority will be the largest in the county going to the polls, said it had received 81 applications and was doing what it could to encourage people to ensure they had appropriate ID. Thanet said it had received 74 applications but the figure increased daily. Dover did not record numbers of applications as they were processed through the government.