The government has recently introduced new outlines on voter requirements in terms of supplying sufficient identification. Due to the Elections Act 2022, to vote you must now supply valid ID. The government claim this is to reduce levels of voter fraud.
This policy does not consider the estimated 925,000 to three million voters in the UK who do not possess valid voter ID. Further, the 2021 Census also found that ethnic minority groups are less likely to possess a driving licence, with 38% of South Asian people and 48% of Black people not owning one. There are also questions as to how it may enable discriminatory violence towards transgender individuals who may be uncomfortable showing old photo ID.
Another primary concern raised with this new law is that it seems to disproportionately target the younger generation, who traditionally vote against the Conservative Party. At the start of this year, just 9% of 18-24-year-olds intend to vote for them, and 58% intend to vote Labour.
Due to changes to the law, it is no longer legal to present a travel card ID, unless it is a 60+ travel card. Therefore, those 60 and above have more options for what ID they may show. In essence, this policy is targeting younger voters.
With existing high levels of voter apathy, this extra hurdle could result in reduced turnout. Voter turnout in the UK is historically lowest among young people already. In 2019, just over half of 18-34 year-olds voted compared to 77% of those aged 65 and over.
Analysis by Professor Chris Hanretty and journalist John Burn-Murdoch suggests that those without a driving licence were more likely to report voting Labour (57%) than Conservative (27%) at the 2017 General Election.
Voter suppression can be described as “influencing the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing specific groups of people from voting”. Here one could argue there is evidence of an attempt at voter suppression, reducing the turnout of a valid electorate by up to 3 million, and disproportionately targeting certain groups.
Although the government argues this policy is to prevent voter fraud, there have been very few instances in the past 5 years. Regardless, they argue that something must be done to curb the ‘potential’ for this to occur.
As if in juxtaposition to this very argument, postal votes, the most likely type of vote to be fraudulent, are still valid without photo ID.
Lily Waters, a third-year Politics student at the University of Sheffield, said: “This is voter suppression in its purest form, and is unacceptable. However, we can’t change it now, so we need to do everything we can to make sure as many people as possible still get to vote.”
Overall, this reform begs the question: The government is a body that should make it as easy as possible for eligible voters to participate, so why are they focusing their policies on making it more difficult? An initiative to motivate more people to vote, and reduce voter apathy would surely be a much better representation of democracy.
The National Union of Students is campaigning for Student IDs to be included in the approved list of valid ID. You can sign the petition here: https://www.nus.org.uk/