Plans to curb voter fraud risk impinging on basic democratic freedoms

SIR – Government plans to reduce electoral crime by compelling people to present proof of identity before casting their ballot (report, December 27) are unacceptable.

Voting is a right, and this right cannot be curtailed by introducing a measure which might disfranchise those who are unable to afford the cost of the documents demanded – or indeed those who are unwilling to pay for them.

The right to vote does not and should not depend on an individual being required to do anything other than present themselves to exercise that right. The Government must think again and devise measures that reduce electoral crime without eroding the bedrock of our democracy. Patrick Jacob Woodbridge, Suffolk

SIR – Vivien Coombs (Letters, December 24) suggests that, in order to vote under the proposed scheme, all we would have to do is apply for a passport. However, many people do not or cannot travel abroad. My 100year-old mother-in-law was not fit to travel for her last 20 years but always voted. It would seem unreasonable to require her to pay £85 for something she would never otherwise use, just so that she could vote. Chris Platford Malmesbury, Wiltshire

SIR – Chris Skidmore, the minister for the constitution, is right to say that “voter fraud must not be allowed to undermine the integrity of our democracy” (Opinion, telegraph.co.uk, December 27).

Measures to safeguard that integrity must be balanced and proportionate, and not just seen to be those most likely to favour the party in power.

A far greater problem with our election system is that many people who are entitled to vote are not included on the electoral registers and may be unaware of this until it is too late.

The Government should allow everyone to check online easily to see whether or not they are already registered.

If proof of identity is to be required at polling stations across Britain, as in Northern Ireland, then the system used there for registering all 16- and 17–year-olds at school and providing them with voter ID cards, in anticipation of their reaching voting age, should be introduced here.

Above all, we need to ensure that everyone entitled to vote is enabled to do so in proper conditions which safeguard the basis of a secret ballot. Lord Rennard (Lib Dem) Co-chairman, All-Party Group on Democratic Participation London SW1

SIR – Voter fraud prevention standards in Britain are lower than those in India. Indian voters must produce a photo ID card and their photo is matched against the one held on the electoral roll.

Why does this not happen here? Keith Phair Felixstowe, Suffolk