This report was published last Thursday, but I missed it then and it is no less relevant this morning:
As many as eight million people face being disenfranchised at the next election due to an electoral registration system which is neither effective nor efficient, says the cross-party Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee in a report published today.
As they noted:
The report finds that the current state of the electoral registration system, which governs local elections in England and UK general elections, needs urgent review.
The report finds that there have been notable issues with the practical implementation of recent electoral registration reforms, including voter ID which left individuals without the right ID being prevented from voting and only a limited number of forms of ID being permitted. The report disagrees with the Government's view on the adequacy of the list of accepted photo ID and believes it should be widened to include other forms, such as emergency services passes and non-London travel passes.
The report recognises that certain groups, such as young people, renters, ethnic minorities, and those in lower socio-economic groups are significantly less likely to be registered to vote. The Committee were also told that some disabled people do not feel supported to register to vote, particularly struggling with the lack of variety in communication channels.
The report recommends a series of steps to help tackle under-registration. … The report also calls for the Government to move towards an opt in automated voter registration system to help ensure that voters are not disenfranchised.
They add:
The report references the Electoral Commission's 2023 report, "Electoral registers in the UK”, which found that completeness of the registers in the UK is at 86%. ‘Accuracy' looks at the number of false entries on the electoral registers and is currently at 88%. This means that potentially as many as eight million people were not correctly registered at their current address and people may be registered twice inadvertently. The completeness of the electoral registers in Great Britain is 86%. The Commission explained that " if a UK general election was called now, around 14% of the eligible population would not be able to vote."
That is approximately seven million people who are disenfranchised in the UK as a result of government indifference.and as the committee notes, this is not necessary. In a very similar situation to the UK, Canada had very much higher levels of voter registration.
Can we really claim to be a democracy when the government very clearly does not care if people can vote?
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It’s not as though you have a Labour Party anymore campaigning on such issues is it? You have a Starmer Party wanting to shoot itself in the foot at every opportunity!
And if, as is rumoured, the election is called for October students will also be disenfranchised.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/mar/23/left-without-a-voice-october-general-election-could-leave-students-in-uk-unable-to-vote
Agreed
It is ironic that we can be fined for not registering to vote.
I looked up what other democracies do. Most have automatic registration. It is feasible.
The Electoral Commission is in favour of it.
What about our Opposition parties? Where do they stand?
Who knows with Labour?
While not naive about its possible misuses I have long thought that we have passed the point where, given the ever-enlarging problems of establishing identity and identity theft/fraud, a democratically controlled national ID card would, on balance be a better solution.
I have always suspected that Tory opposition to the scheme was mostly because in the Tory world they hate anything where the world of snobbery and privilege is stripped away and they are reminded that they are no better than anybody else.
The Tory claim that we have a voter fraud problem and their methods of supposedly dealing with it have more to do with the Jim Crow voter suppression laws of the US than reality.
I have never shared the reservations many have about ID cards
I carry my drivers licence for this purpose now
“While not naive about its possible misuses…”
Can you tell me more about ID’s possible misuses? More or less whole of Europe has it – it’s not like it’s something new and not tried? How is ID misused in France, Germany, Belgium or Norway? If misuses are possible, then there must be some record of it. This is a serious questions as there’s always talk about misuses when it comes to ID – but no-one wants to define what these misuses are.
“Misuses of ID”
I suspect the most vociferous opponents of ID cards are the most elderly. They recall the knowledge of the *J* stamp on German ID cards. My father saw the liberty to live without the threat of authority demanding to know his business, without clear evidence of suspect behaviour, the reason why he fought in WW2.
And also concerned are those who have encountered insecure / faulty computer systems in State organisations. Or even the Post Office. And someone wrote here about the corollary of no taxation without representation – if you don’t pay tax, through poverty or otherwise, for example, how would you know if your smartcard ID was marked by HMRC and your ballot, linked to your ID, wasn’t counted? Or maybe you protested too much… or were in receipt of a means-tested benefit…
I used to think my father was paranoid… and then I looked at current fascism… now I am not so sure.
When the ID rule was introduced, I had a problem in that I had no up-to-date ID that the Tories had decided was acceptable. I don’t drive, therefore I had no driving licence. I did not have an up-to-date passport. I also had no ID at all that was recent. So, to vote, I would need to get some new form of ID that was acceptable to the Tories, or an ID card just to vote. I chose not to.
The only alternative was to apply for a postal vote, where you fill in a form, sign it, and return it to the council. You don’t need ID to get a postal vote, but just be on the electoral register, or I assume, be the council taxpayer for the property. They assume you are who you say you are. Which is basically how it used to be to go and vote at a polling station. I did not have to prove that I was the person applying for a postal vote. I was surprised that it was so easy to get one. I imagine the Tories will probably make that more difficult in the future if they win again.
Well, I think Rees Mogg gave the game away on the Tories attempts to put things in their favour with the whole ID question. He called it gerrymandering, which I suppose was technically the wrong term to use, but the Tories were clearly hoping that the need for ID would benefit them. Fact is, certain ID for older people the Tories say is fine, is deemed not suitable for younger people. Typical rigged Tory way of doing things.
I also came across a video which suggests the Tories may go for a later election in October to coincide with the start of the new academic year and students – young people – moving. The Tory hope being that many young people will not be registered to vote as they will be on the move (and the Tories have changed things to make it difficult for them as well). There is one poll that suggests just 1% of 18-24’s plan to vote Con at the next election. You can see why the Tories want to stop them voting, or make it as difficult as possible for them to vote.
The Tories are also giving 2.2 million ex-pats (British immigrants living in someone else’s country) the right to vote in UK elections, even for those who left the country fifteen years ago! Paid no taxes, done nothing for, or in the UK for all those years. Of course, many foreigners who have settled in the UK and do pay taxes, don’t get a vote. Tory rigging at its best going on (although apparently the ex-pat vote are not happy with Brexit-not in favour of it-many of them voted to leave the EU, although of course, they were living in places like Spain at the time! You couldn’t make it up).
Why would the Tories want an October election? | LBC analysis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUAS4Q364ZI
The Tories only like democracy when it favours them, that is why they are the biggest supporter of FPTP. They know that PR ends their gravy train to power. The Tories are just the biggest bunch of Con-artists around. The word, CON, is absolutely right describing them. I’ve long come to the conclusion that everything they do is a CON.
Just to say we have lived in France for 10 years. We pay tax on some of our income in the UK and some in France. We have lost our voting rights in France due to Brexit.
I think it’s a bit of a myth that British abroad are Tory voters many of us would never vote Tory.
I really don’t like the viewpoint that ex-pats should not be allowed to vote because they don’t pay tax. Follow that logic to its conclusion and anyone else who doesn’t pay tax or “does nothing for the UK” shouldn’t be allowed a vote either. Students who are not yet earning. People out of work. They all have, and should have, the right to vote regardless of what they earn and do.
I am a dual national. I get to vote in British elections and French elections, even though I live in Britain. As long as you are a citizen of a country, as long as you hold a passport for that country, the decisions that government makes do have an impact on your life and you should have the right to vote on it.
I am a bit confused about the method the UK government has, of tying votes to a last used UK address. The french model of overseas constituencies makes much more sense to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constituencies_for_French_residents_overseas
I agree that settled foreign non-nationals should be allowed to vote. In Scotland, they do as long as they have “leave to remain”.
Despite my reservations in principle to long-term non-residents being able to vote for the MP to represent those living in a UK constituency, I have registered to do just that in order to be able to vote against the Tories and as a sort of revenge over not being able to vote in the Brexit referendum which I feel should have been open to all British subjects. I know of other Brits here in France who have done the same, for similar reasons. So maybe the Tories have mis-calculated?
But I agree it would make much more sense, and be much more acceptable to all, if non-residents could vote in a special constituency for someone to represent their particular interests, as in the French system which seems to work well.
Remains to be seen whether the vagaries of the postal system will mean I can actually cast a valid vote. A friend here who had a postal vote for the last election said it arrived too late to return in time.
Having lived, worked ( and now retired ) in Europe for more than 30 years, I just wanted to add a couple of observations :~
I have been required to carry a nationally accepted ID card throughout the period, and have absolutely no complaints about having to do so.
How ironic that having lived outside the UK for more than 15 years I was unable to participate in the referendum that had such a detrimental effect, yet now I am eligible to vote in future UK elections. I am conflicted as to whether I should do so, as on the one hand I have little connection to the UK, but on the other, my children are urging me to help rid them of the Tories
You couldn’t make it up.
At the same time as they are deliberately disenfranchising millions today they are diverting attention to Chinese interference with the electoral roll!
It is part of a wider malaise.
We are increasingly being asked to provide evidence of ID & entitlement to work or rent property, as well as to vote, BUT there is no single document that everyone has to evidence this.
Thats before we start on Windrush, and dont forget that possibly the earliest victim of a Windrush type ‘denial of citizenship’ was Spike Milligan.
The one thing that would deal with this is an ID card for all UK residents and a Population Register.
Given that 75% of the UK population have a passport and the DWP database has almost every UK resident on it with nationality I dont see it as a major challenge, especially if you were to exclude (say) everyone currently over 60 from having to have one.
While I appreciate the advantages of a UK National ID card I fear that the administration of such may be beyond the present ability of our government! The Tory desire to sub-contract gov services to private organisations run by their friends & donors rather frightens me.
That said the benefits of it being simpler to prove my identity to any organisation with the same “ card” could simplify daily life, and be fairer when it comes to ID for voting.