On 4th May, voters across England will go to the polls to elect some 8,000 councillors. For the first time, they will be asked to show a photographic ID at the polling station before they are allowed to cast their vote. This is because of new rules introduced under the Elections Act 2022. These rules will eventually apply to all elections in England, and in Wales they will apply to future Westminster and Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Senedd and local elections in Wales will not be affected, as the rules governing these are the responsibility of the Welsh Government.
Accepted forms of voter ID include a UK or EU passport or photocard driving licence. An over 60s’ bus pass may be used as ID, but a young persons’ bus or travelcard is ineligible. This points to the Election Act’s true intention. While the Conservative Government at Westminster has sought to argue that the new measures are about preventing voter fraud, in reality they are a form of voter suppression. Voting fraud in the UK is negligible. According to the Electoral Commission, between 2018 and 2022 there were only 9 convictions for electoral fraud in the UK, and a further 6 police cautions. There is absolutely no case for making it harder to vote. And in practical terms that is what the new regulations are intended to do.
Young voters, who we should be actively encouraging to participate in elections, are being particularly targeted by these new restrictive measures.
Public knowledge of new voter ID requirements is worryingly low, and the public information campaign around them has been woefully inadequate. Across the UK, there are an estimated 2 million people who do not possess one of the approved forms of voter ID. They are able to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate, but as of 1st April, only 2% of those eligible had done so.
The number of voters who may not possess an approved photo ID is particularly high in my region of Mid and West Wales. According to modelling undertaken by Dr Katy Morris at the University of Lausanne using data from the latest census, more than a quarter of voters in Dwyfor Meirionydd and Preseli Pembrokeshire do not own a passport. This figure is also above 20 percent for Llanelli, Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, and Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire. And this is all before we factor in the ongoing delays in the passport renewals process which the UK Government has serially failed to address.
Morris has also used census data on car ownership as a proxy for the likelihood of possessing a driving licence – another of the permitted forms of voter ID. Here too the story for Wales is concerning. South Wales, in particular, stands out as a potential photo ID black spot, with relatively high numbers of people who neither possess a passport nor belong to a car-owning household.
We in Plaid Cymru are resolute in our opposition to this Tory attempt to disenfranchise Welsh voters. And we will continue our work, including through our Co-operation Agreement with the Welsh Labour Government, to develop a reformed and fairer democracy here in Wales.
