According to a recent survey conducted by Reuters, more than 13,000 individuals were denied their right to vote in the local elections held in England this month due to
the government's implementation of a new identity requirement. The impact of this requirement was felt particularly by those in poorer regions.
For the first time in English elections, voters were officially mandated to provide photo identification, with the government citing the need to combat election fraud as the rationale behind the measure.
However, the change faced criticism from various opposition politicians and activists who argued that it was intended to suppress voter turnout. They believed that such a requirement was disproportionate, considering the historically low incidence of in-person voting fraud in Britain.
Notably, Jacob Rees-Mogg, a government minister during the passage of the law, acknowledged last week that the measure had adversely affected elderly voters who traditionally supported the governing Conservative Party, indicating that the intended outcome was different from what was anticipated.
Rees-Mogg stated at the National Conservatism conference, "Parties that try and gerrymander end up finding their clever scheme comes back to bite them, as dare I say we found by insisting on voter ID for elections."
Reuters gathered data from 202 out of the 230 authorities in England that conducted elections, revealing significant losses for the governing Conservative Party. The remaining 28 authorities either had not yet compiled the data or did not respond to Reuters' inquiry.
Among the top 20 councils that turned away voters, 15 were located in the most deprived areas of England, as determined by the government's deprivation index, according to the survey.
Clive Betts, a member of the opposition Labour Party and chair of a parliamentary committee responsible for examining the new rules, expressed concern, stating that they were "undermining and undervaluing our democracy."
A government spokesperson responded by saying, "We are encouraged by the roll-out, and we are confident that the vast majority of voters have successfully cast their votes." Photo by secretlondon123, Wikimedia commons.