Should voters be required to show their ID?

EXCELLENT to hear about the recommendation from Sir Eric Pickles, former Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, for a pilot scheme in selected areas during the 2018 local authority elections in England, under which people will be expected to show their ID when voting. This is to stop the repeat of recent electoral fraud which has brought our much esteemed democratic electoral practices into disrepute. This decision is very welcome and one long overdue, but why just a pilot scheme? It should be rolled out across the whole country forthwith and unconditionally. It will bring much-needed controls to prevent electoral fraud. But in order to root these cases out fully, controls around the current postal voting system need to be looked at, too. shafick emmambokus, cranford, middlesex.

WHY all the fuss about taking identification to the polling booth to cast one’s vote? Here in Northern Ireland we are already doing that.

d. hanna, newtownabbey, c. antrim.

IT CAN only be good news that the Government is considering rolling out voter ID checks at polling stations across the country to crack down on electoral fraud. Democracies all over the world are shocked at the absence of formal voter checks in Britain. It’s fair to say we are well behind with the times, especially when Northern Ireland already carries out such checks with ease and voting participation remains high. Why Labour and Ken Livingstone are against introducing such ID checks is mind-boggling. Their argument that it somehow restricts certain groups from accessing polling stations is utter nonsense. There are so many ways a voter could provide ID, from driving licences and passports to copies of utility bills. In an age when our local post office requires you to bring ID to pick up a parcel, I’m sure we’ll be able to manage.

mo metcalf-fisher, director, conservative progress.