Local elections, 4th May 2023

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

How do you know that the new rules have reached those you refer to?

[PhilWakely]

To be honest I think the fact that mass postal voting represents more of a risk as has been demonstrated in certain communities.

I too am unconvinced as to the necessity of everyone producing ID in order to vote however the fact remains that it's been made very easy to obtain and if people have chosen not to bother..............well they clearly don't regard their opportunity to take part in the democratic process as very important.

Some years ago, several thousand addresses in a certain Tory controlled District Council near me were identified as not being on the electoral register, but the Returning Officer (or whoever's job it was to oversee the Register) chose not to chase these addresses up. Similarly, this same District Council has chosen not to push the photographic Id requirement. It is widely assumed that the affected folk would be unlikely to vote for the ruling party.

[TaplowGreen]

To be honest I think the fact that mass postal voting represents more of a risk as has been demonstrated in certain communities.

I too am unconvinced as to the necessity of everyone producing ID in order to vote however the fact remains that it's been made very easy to obtain and if people have chosen not to bother..............well they clearly don't regard their opportunity to take part in the democratic process as very important.

Some years ago, several thousand addresses in a certain Tory controlled District Council near me were identified as not being on the electoral register, but the Returning Officer (or whoever's job it was to oversee the Register) chose not to chase these addresses up. Similarly, this same District Council has chosen not to push the photographic Id requirement. It is widely assumed that the affected folk would be unlikely to vote for the ruling party.

To which Council are you referring?

[PhilWakely]

To be honest I think the fact that mass postal voting represents more of a risk as has been demonstrated in certain communities.

I too am unconvinced as to the necessity of everyone producing ID in order to vote however the fact remains that it's been made very easy to obtain and if people have chosen not to bother..............well they clearly don't regard their opportunity to take part in the democratic process as very important.

Some years ago, several thousand addresses in a certain Tory controlled District Council near me were identified as not being on the electoral register, but the Returning Officer (or whoever's job it was to oversee the Register) chose not to chase these addresses up. Similarly, this same District Council has chosen not to push the photographic Id requirement. It is widely assumed that the affected folk would be unlikely to vote for the ruling party.

To which Council are you referring?

East Devon

[TaplowGreen]

To be honest I think the fact that mass postal voting represents more of a risk as has been demonstrated in certain communities.

I too am unconvinced as to the necessity of everyone producing ID in order to vote however the fact remains that it's been made very easy to obtain and if people have chosen not to bother..............well they clearly don't regard their opportunity to take part in the democratic process as very important.

Some years ago, several thousand addresses in a certain Tory controlled District Council near me were identified as not being on the electoral register, but the Returning Officer (or whoever's job it was to oversee the Register) chose not to chase these addresses up. Similarly, this same District Council has chosen not to push the photographic Id requirement. It is widely assumed that the affected folk would be unlikely to vote for the ruling party.

To which Council are you referring?

East Devon

This East Devon?

https://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/

[stuving]

It has been made incredibly easy to obtain voter ID, a "Voter Authority Certificate" free of charge for those who don't possess any of the numerous approved forms.

Really?

Relatively few people don't have photo ID they can use, but within that minority are some groups who are not finding it easy to get a Voter Authority Certificate. The biggest group of these are the oldest age group, who can't cope easily or at all with things that can only be done on line. Since this age group is statistically most likely to vote Tory, if it was all done for electoral advantage it may backfire.

Here is a thorough explanation of why from inews. One unusual thing about this election photo ID requirement is that you can use an out of date passport, and another is the specific proviso in the advice that you should still look like the picture. This is a worse problem for driving licenses, which before the age of 70 last for ages. My sister wanted to get a certificate for that reason, and found exactly the difficulty raised by Paul Waugh in that article: you need to get an acceptable digital picture of yourself and upload it. That is not trivial to do, if you've never done it before, and especially is you were born long before computers became an everyday thing.

There was going to be an alternative, using a form and a photo on paper, locally. This too is now only explained (and the local addresses listed) on-line, and the form to fill in has to be downloaded and printed. Not only can those not on line not do that, obviously, but many who are don't have a printer. So you need to ask someone (e.g. a grandchild, if you have one handy) to do it for you.

Those who don't have a bus pass already (and are old enough) might be prompted to get one now (or have been prompted, as it isn't a quick process). However, in most places that still needs a digital photo to do it on-line. But surely in this case your local council office can do it with a form and photo on paper, can't they? Not in Reading - RBC^‡(resolve) closed their offices for Covid (as you'd expect), but they still have not reopened for bus pass applications!

Maybe we'll find out in a few days which predictions were closest to being right. But I suspect not - it's hard to get clear evidence of the causes of voting patterns, so more likely there will be several theories about whether missing IDs had much effect.

[Phil]

Just another ruse by the ruling party to prevent votes for the opposition

Alternative viewpoint (not that there's anything wrong about the one already posited) - polling stations are incredibly expensive things to run. Building hire, printing costs, wages for (usually) 3 staff at each, and literally hundreds of them in each electoral division. Discouraging people from attending by effectively disenfranchising the very demographic that most uses them (i.e. the elderly - spend a day in one if you don't believe me!) leads me to suspect that the whole thing is part of a concerted effort to do away with the expense of running polling stations altogether and encourage more and more voters to vote by post [and eventually online, that'll be next]

[ChrisB]

I’m sure that one is in the back of many leaders minds.

Something that can probably be taken forward once the current OAPs have passed on, so in around 25 years time shen the next ‘tranche’ of OAPs have been online for most of their adult lives

[eXPassenger]

I felt that voter ID was not being taken seriously today.  On entering the polling station we showed our driving licences and the man checked the pictures against our faces, but there was no check of the name on the licence against the issue of a voting paper.

[Electric train]

I felt that voter ID was not being taken seriously today.  On entering the polling station we showed our driving licences and the man checked the pictures against our faces, but there was no check of the name on the licence against the issue of a voting paper.

My Polling Station asked the usual things confirm name and address and they checked the phot against the ID and recorded the type of ID

[froome]

I heard of one person who was turned away from my local polling station. He was an employee of the council and brought his work ID, which had a photo on it, but this was rejected. Apparently he didn't have any other ID.

[stuving]

I felt that voter ID was not being taken seriously today.  On entering the polling station we showed our driving licences and the man checked the pictures against our faces, but there was no check of the name on the licence against the issue of a voting paper.

My Polling Station asked the usual things confirm name and address and they checked the phot against the ID and recorded the type of ID

I'm sure they used to have two poll clerks: the first ticked off the name and address I agave against the list, and the second one gave me the (freshly perforated) papers. This time there was a third one first, who looked at the picture, and the name and address I gave was used by him and by the one with the list. Seems pretty logical, though at the cost of an extra clerk.

[TaplowGreen]

Political Scientist Professor Sir John Curtice this morning on the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

"On the evidence of our key wards, turnout is only slightly down on both 2019 and 2022, while there is no marked evidence that turnout has fallen more in places where fewer people possess a passport"

I'm sure we are all relieved to hear that.

[Electric train]

Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead has seen a seismic shift
Con minus - 13 seats
Lib Dem - plus 13
Independents have also increased in seats

There are still more result to come, but the Lib Dems have 20 out of the 41 seats at the time of writing.

The Conservative Leader of the Council substantially lost his seat, now "former leader"

[TaplowGreen]

Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead has seen a seismic shift
Con minus - 13 seats
Lib Dem - plus 13
Independents have also increased in seats

There are still more result to come, but the Lib Dems have 20 out of the 41 seats at the time of writing.

The Conservative Leader of the Council substantially lost his seat, now "former leader"

That's incredible. Who knew that building all over the green belt could cost them so much?