Voter ID

There are a number of crises engulfing the country including the NHS, the cost of living and the collapse of our care services. Amongst all these problems, the Conservative government has taken on board a lesson from the great democrat Trump in making it more difficult for particular elements of the population to vote. This technique is called voter suppression and uses a variety of tools, invariably raising the bar before you can vote. The latest wheeze introduced by the Tory government is a requirement to produce photo ID to vote at polling stations. The accepted forms of photo ID very from passports, driving licences to bus passes. At first sight this might appear reasonable but many people in our society do not have photo ID. These tend to be those less well off, the vulnerable and younger voters. In other words, those more likely to vote against the Conservatives. On the other hand, the older amongst us, who are more likely to vote Conservative, have more photo ID options.

Why are we being asked to provide photo ID? The Conservative government self-serving belief is that there is massive voter fraud. It is based on a view that our democracy is threatened by hordes of voters lying about who they are. Yet the facts suggest otherwise. Convictions for voter fraud are rare. For example, in 2019 there was just one conviction for in-person voter fraud in the whole country. You might conclude that those most affected by the crises are those whose votes are most likely to be suppressed.