Plans for UK Voter ID ‘Unachievable’

Perhaps spurred on by the unfounded allegations of US voters taking on false IDs that, at least in part, led to the ‘Stop the Steal’ storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 (see IDN August 2021), the UK government introduced an Elections Integrity Bill which has been working its way through the UK parliament (see IDN June 2021).

But now, ministers have been urged to scrap plans contained in the Bill to introduce mandatory voter ID after a government report said the project ‘appears to be unachievable’.

The policy was originally forced through by Boris Johnson’s government despite there being no evidence of widespread in- person voter fraud taking place, and amid warnings it could strip thousands of people of the right to vote.

Now, the Infrastructure and Projects Authority has graded the government’s Electoral Integrity project as ‘red’ in their annual report. Meaning that the body believes there are ‘major issues with project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery, which at this stage do not appear to be manageable or resolvable.’

Additionally, the Association of Electoral Administrators (the main organisation for the administration of elections in the UK) last month warned Secretary of State, Greg Clark, that the current timetable for the plan ‘threatens to lead to voter disenfranchisement and to confuse candidates and campaigners.’ In a letter to Mr Clark, Unlock Democracy’s Tom Brake (a pressure group for a more participatory democracy in the UK) urged the government to delay the plan until after the next general election – or to ‘simply abandon the rollout of photographic voter ID.’

There is no evidence of widespread in-person voter fraud – the only kind which would be tackled by the measure – happening in the UK. Yet the government claimed potentially disenfranchising thousands of legitimate voters would ‘strengthen UK democracy’, he stated.

At the previous general election in 2019, 595 cases of alleged electoral fraud were investigated by police, according to the Electoral Commission. Four led to a conviction and two people were given a police caution. The commission said that ‘the UK has low levels of proven electoral fraud’.

A spokesperson for the department responsible for electoral participation said: ‘we will not be complacent when it comes to ensuring our democracy remains secure and our Elections Act will protect the integrity of our elections and stamp out the potential for voter fraud.

‘The Secretary of State is committed to driving forward with the direction that has been set for the department, including protecting our democracy.’