Voters in five local authorities will need to show ID before they
can vote next May in a move to tackle electoral fraud, the
Minister for the Constitution will announce today
(Saturday, 16 September).
The move comes after reports of alleged electoral fraud through
voter impersonation more than doubled between 2014 and 2016,
according to figures from the Electoral Commission.
Any reports of fraud undermine democracy and weaken the United
Kingdom’s strong tradition of holding free and fair elections.
In the May 2018 local elections Woking, Gosport, Bromley, Watford
and Slough have volunteered to take part in a trial, which will
require voters to produce ID before being issued with a ballot
paper.
In addition, Tower Hamlets will also run a separate postal voting
pilot, looking at the security of postal votes and providing
additional guidance in postal vote packs.
The form of identification to be used will be set by the
councils, but the pilot will involve trialling both photo ID and
non-photo ID to see what is most effective and efficient.
Next year’s trial is likely to be the first in a series of pilots
to allow the Electoral Commission and Cabinet Office to evaluate
the impact of asking for ID before a decision is taken on whether
or not to roll it out nationally.
Minister for the Constitution, said:
"For people to have confidence in our democratic processes we
need to ensure that our elections are safeguarded against any
threat or perception of electoral fraud.
"The current situation of people simply pointing out their name
without having to prove who they are feels out of date when
considering other safeguards to protect people's identity. It is
harder to take out a library book or collect a parcel at a post
office than it is to vote in someone’s name.
“I am very hopeful that by taking a careful evidence-based
approach in these pilots we will be able to roll out ID in
polling stations at future elections.”
Many countries around the world have already made it a
requirement to prove identity at a polling station
And it is already a requirement in Northern Ireland, where ID has
been requested since 1985. There have been no reports of voter
impersonation since 2003.
Voter ID was raised in a report on voting fraud by Sir , published in August last
year.
The Electoral Commission has called for it for its introduction
and the international election watchdog the Organisation for
Security and Co-operation has said it should be “seriously
considered”.
Claire Bassett, Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission,
said:
“We welcome the Minister’s announcement today as a positive first
step towards implementing our 2014 recommendation that an
accessible, proportionate voter identification scheme should be
introduced in Great Britain.
“Voters in Northern Ireland have been required to show
photographic proof of identity since 2003, and we have the
opportunity to learn from that experience. The Electoral
Commission is responsible for carrying out an independent,
statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes and we will publish our
findings following the May elections, in the summer of 2018.”
ENDS
NOTES
- In 2014, the Electoral Commission published a report which
recommended the introduction of identification at polling
stations.
https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/164609/Electoral-fraud-review-final-report.pdf
- The Organisation for Security and Cooperation reiterated in
its 2010 report on the General Election that “serious
consideration should be given to introducing a more robust
mechanism for identification of voters”. The report can be found
here: http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/69072?download=true
- In March the Electoral Commission published analysis of
alleged electoral fraud in the UK in 2016. It reported an
increase in the overall number of cases relating to allegations
of impersonation in polling stations, from 21 cases in 2014 to a
total of 44 cases in 2016.
