'Pressing need' for review of local elections amid voter ID fears
Elections watchdogs will review the launch of voter ID after next month’s crunch ballots.
The Electoral Commission analyses how each vote is run - and said this year’s vote where voters in England must show photo identification to be allowed to exercise their democratic right meant its review would be “even more pressing”.
The body’s communications director Craig Westwood told the BBC: “Post-election we will be doing an independent evaluation of how it went.
“We always do that for every set of elections but it will be even more pressing with this new change having come in.
“We do detailed survey work of all participants in an election, starting of course with voters but thinking about administrators and returning officers, parties and candidates - what’s their experience - and police in the area.
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“They’re always an important part, including in how the election has gone.”
The Mirror has launched our Get ID, Get a Vote campaign to raise awareness of the need for identification at the local elections on May 4 - and encourage people who do not have ID to apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate issued by the Government.
Voter ID will be needed in England for the first time (Getty Images/iStockphoto)Ministers insist voter ID is needed to crackdown on electoral fraud.
But critics have said there are few incidents - and questioned the need for identification.
The Electoral Reform Society said awareness of the need for voter ID was “worryingly low”.
Chief executive Darren Hughes added: “It has been sort of snuck in - people on the frontline on election day are going to be facing voters who are quite confused - people who are genuinely the person they say they are who either don’t have ID or who have simply forgotten it - being not given a ballot paper.
“That means that one person being turned away is going to be far too many, given that we don’t have this problem of people pretending to be someone else.
“We really do face creating a much bigger problem here by way of solution than exists in the first place with impersonation concerns.”
The Electoral Commission’s Mr Westwood said: “There are very, very low levels of proven electoral fraud, what we call ‘personations’ - pretending to be somebody else in a polling station.
“People should feel confident about polling station voting in this country.”
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Polling stations will have extra officials to help voters when they arrive on May 4, he added.
He insisted the body had been preparing "for months" to put plans in place for voter ID.
Mr Westwood said: "There will be more staff. Some polling stations, particularly larger ones where there are more people who will be registered in that area, will have greeters, people who are outside the polling station that can just make sure that people are definitely aware of the ID requirement, that they've got it with them, they've got it out of their purse, wallet, bag, and have got it ready, just to make sure that any queues are being eased through.
"The detailed training that the polling station staff has also helped them to prepare for some of the individual circumstances that they might experience, so somebody from the trans/non-binary community who is concerned about having their ID seen in public, somebody who's wearing a religious head dressing that they need to take off in private to be able to prove who they are.
“So all of those preparations have been put in place."
The Local Government Association’s people and places board chairman Kevin Bentley said: “Councils are working around the clock to deliver the local elections and the new voter ID requirements, which is the biggest change to in-person voting in 150 years.
“The practical effort required to deliver this change in such a short timeframe should not be understated.
“Raising public awareness of these new requirements is crucial and we remain concerned about the potential for electoral staff to be overwhelmed with enquiries and Voter Authority Certificate applications now polling cards have been issued and that some councils may struggle to recruit sufficient staff for polling stations.
“It is vital that the implementation of voter ID in May is rigorously and transparently evaluated to ensure that lessons are learned ahead of future elections.”
Lib Dem MP Helen Morgan said: “Today’s warning on voter ID from the LGA shows the Conservative Government cannot bury their heads in the sand any longer.
“This is a national scandal that could end in a disaster for our democracy.”
She added: “The moment Parliament returns on Monday, the Government must cancel the voter ID measures before too many people lose their voice in this year’s local elections.”
Individuals without any form of acceptable photo ID have until April 25 to apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate to vote in the local elections.
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