UK government announces voter suppression laws

[Deleted member 283]

I think what a lot of the European mainlanders need to understand and are having trouble with in this thread are:

A.) The UK does not currently have a national ID. It doesn't matter that your country does. The UK doesn't, and the fact they're trying this despite the UK not having national ID is what makes this a blatant attempt at voter suppression.
B.) It's inevitable that the UK will have elections in short order. When exactly isn't clear yet, but the next national election will definitely be much sooner rather than later in the UK, that's for certain.


B is particularly important. Now, combine it with A, and the facts as they stand are:
1.) The UK current has no National ID
2.) Boris Johnson's government nonetheless wants to make IDs necessary to vote in the next election.
3.) Said next election is incredibly likely to happen very soon, within the next few months probably.
4.) Again, the UK currently has no form of National ID
5.) So, putting that all together, if elections are indeed approaching as soon as most people think they are, even if Boris Johnson's government were to also support some form of free National ID for everyone in the UK on top of it, there's just absolutely no time to get those IDs to people before the next election. The timetables we're dealing with here make that impossible. Not that that's what they're proposing anyway from my understanding, but even if they were, there's just to time for it.
6.) Nonetheless, Boris Johnson's governments want IDs to be required anyway, despite voter-fraud being a non-existent problem, despite the UK not currently having any national forms of ID, and even if he were to support creating one out of nowhere, there'd be no time to get it to people for the next election.

THAT'S how it's voter suppression: that they know all this, that they know that as a result of this, if it goes through, people will not be allowed to vote in the UK due to these new requirements who otherwise would be, and that's exactly the point of these measures. To make it as hard/unlikely for those people to vote as possible. This is not coincidence or unintentional, Boris Johnson's government knows everything I've listed above. The entire point is to make it harder for people to vote in the UK by requiring photographic ID despite the UK not currently having any national form of said photo ID.

Especially since the key point is the timing. Why try to do this now, right before the next national election in the UK, despite the UK not currently having any form of national photo ID and there not being time to get them to people even if Boris supported that as well? Why now? If nothing else, the timing reveals all here, as it's the current understanding that the next national election in the UK probably won't be any later than, what, December or January or something like that (though again, since nothing's currently scheduled, it's hard to know for certain, but the current understanding is it's unlikely things get stretched out much further than that)? So to try to sneak this in now, right before all that... It's not hard seeing what's going on here, when it's all laid out like that.

Any talk of "but in my country, we have a national photo ID and require photo ID to vote and there's no problem" entirely misses the point as that doesn't apply to the UK and that's why it would be a problem in the UK specifically. For anyone confused, I hope outlining it like this helps.

 

[kharma45]

I think what a lot of the European mainlanders need to understand and are having trouble with in this thread are:

A.) The UK does not currently have a national ID. It doesn't matter that your country does. The UK doesn't, and the fact they're trying this despite the UK not having national ID is what makes this a blatant attempt at voter suppression.
B.) It's inevitable that the UK will have elections in short order. When exactly isn't clear yet, but the next national election will definitely be much sooner rather than later in the UK, that's for certain.


B is particularly important. Now, combine it with A, and the facts as they stand are:
1.) The UK current has no National ID
2.) Boris Johnson's government nonetheless wants to make IDs necessary to vote in the next election.
3.) Said next election is incredibly likely to happen very soon, within the next few months probably.
4.) Again, the UK currently has no form of National ID
5.) So, putting that all together, if elections are indeed approaching as soon as most people think they are, even if Boris Johnson's government were to also support some form of free National ID for everyone in the UK on top of it, there's just absolutely no time to get those IDs to people before the next election. The timetables we're dealing with here make that impossible. Not that that's what they're proposing anyway from my understanding, but even if they were, there's just to time for it.
6.) Nonetheless, Boris Johnson's governments want IDs to be required anyway, despite voter-fraud being a non-existent problem, despite the UK not currently having any national forms of ID, and even if he were to support creating one out of nowhere, there'd be no time to get it to people for the next election.

THAT'S how it's voter suppression: that they know all this, that they know that as a result of this, if it goes through, people will not be allowed to vote in the UK due to these new requirements who otherwise would be, and that's exactly the point of these measures. To make it as hard/unlikely for those people to vote as possible. This is not coincidence or unintentional, Boris Johnson's government knows everything I've listed above. The entire point is to make it harder for people to vote in the UK by requiring photographic ID despite the UK not currently having any national form of said photo ID.

Especially since the key point is the timing. Why try to do this now, right before the next national election in the UK, despite the UK not currently having any form of national photo ID and there not being time to get them to people even if Boris supported that as well? Why now? If nothing else, the timing reveals all here, as it's the current understanding that the next national election in the UK probably won't be any later than, what, December or January or something like that? So to try to sneak this in now, right before all that... It's not hard seeing what's going on here, when it's all laid out like that.

Any talk of "but in my country, we have a national photo ID and require photo ID to vote and there's no problem" entirely misses the point as that doesn't apply to the UK and that's why it would be a problem in the UK specifically. For anyone confused, I hope outlining it like this helps.

Click to shrink...

except it does apply in one part of the UK and none of you care since it doesn’t affect you.

 

[Naga]

You have no idea what you are on about.
"Not that much money" €35 is more than a months money for around 2m- 4m people in the UK after paying for food etc.

UK has 14m in poverty and kncreasing fast due to austerity. UK has aroun 2-4m in extreme poverty.


The list goes on in the UK

Click to shrink...

You should probably read my previous tweets rather than just my last one.I was talking about free ID cards (like most places).

UK has indeed tons of poverty issues, but they're not all linked to austerity issues, just like the NHS issues and other services getting worse and worse are not due to that. But that's a completely different debate about UK government policies and choices over the years, and unrelated to those ID cards.

edit:

I think what a lot of the European mainlanders need to understand and are having trouble with in this thread are:

A.) The UK does not currently have a national ID. It doesn't matter that your country does. The UK doesn't, and the fact they're trying this despite the UK not having national ID is what makes this a blatant attempt at voter suppression.
B.) It's inevitable that the UK will have elections in short order. When exactly isn't clear yet, but the next national election will definitely be much sooner rather than later in the UK, that's for certain.


B is particularly important. Now, combine it with A, and the facts as they stand are:
1.) The UK current has no National ID
2.) Boris Johnson's government nonetheless wants to make IDs necessary to vote in the next election.
3.) Said next election is incredibly likely to happen very soon, within the next few months probably.
4.) Again, the UK currently has no form of National ID
5.) So, putting that all together, if elections are indeed approaching as soon as most people think they are, even if Boris Johnson's government were to also support some form of free National ID for everyone in the UK on top of it, there's just absolutely no time to get those IDs to people before the next election. The timetables we're dealing with here make that impossible. Not that that's what they're proposing anyway from my understanding, but even if they were, there's just to time for it.
6.) Nonetheless, Boris Johnson's governments want IDs to be required anyway, despite voter-fraud being a non-existent problem, despite the UK not currently having any national forms of ID, and even if he were to support creating one out of nowhere, there'd be no time to get it to people for the next election.

THAT'S how it's voter suppression: that they know all this, that they know that as a result of this, if it goes through, people will not be allowed to vote in the UK due to these new requirements who otherwise would be, and that's exactly the point of these measures. To make it as hard/unlikely for those people to vote as possible. This is not coincidence or unintentional, Boris Johnson's government knows everything I've listed above. The entire point is to make it harder for people to vote in the UK by requiring photographic ID despite the UK not currently having any national form of said photo ID.

Especially since the key point is the timing. Why try to do this now, right before the next national election in the UK, despite the UK not currently having any form of national photo ID and there not being time to get them to people even if Boris supported that as well? Why now? If nothing else, the timing reveals all here, as it's the current understanding that the next national election in the UK probably won't be any later than, what, December or January or something like that (though again, since nothing's currently scheduled, it's hard to know for certain, but the current understanding is it's unlikely things get stretched out much further than that)? So to try to sneak this in now, right before all that... It's not hard seeing what's going on here, when it's all laid out like that.

Any talk of "but in my country, we have a national photo ID and require photo ID to vote and there's no problem" entirely misses the point as that doesn't apply to the UK and that's why it would be a problem in the UK specifically. For anyone confused, I hope outlining it like this helps.

Click to shrink...

Except that european mainlanders completely understand it's a voter suppression law in this case. Just that because it is in this specific case (no ID card in the UK for many reasons, short term elections, conservatives trying to gain more seats, dumb election system, etc), doesn't make it a voter suppression law in other countries (which some UK citizens also don't seem to want to understand).
In an ideal world, of course that law would be tied to free ID cards for every UK citizen, and that law wouldn't be in effect until it's the case for around 99% of the population.

 

[Deleted member 835]

You should probably read my previous tweets rather than just my last one.I was talking about free ID cards (like most places).

UK has indeed tons of poverty issues, but they're not all linked to austerity issues, just like the NHS issues and other services getting worse and worse are not due to that. But that's a completely different debate about UK government policies and choices over the years, and unrelated to those ID cards.

Click to shrink...

Austerity very much is 90% of why people are poor as fuck and NHS is dying.

Back on track, free I.Ds will never happen

 

[Deleted member 50454]

In an ideal world, of course that law would be tied to free ID cards for every UK citizen, and that law wouldn't be in effect until it's the case for around 99% of the population.

Click to shrink...

ID cards aren't necessary. There is no problem they solve.

Obviously you're a big fan for some reason. I can only speculate.

 

[Naga]

Austerity very much is 90% of why people are poor as fuck and NHS is dying.

Back on track, free I.Ds will never happen

Click to shrink...

Labour did 30£ ID cards, while most EU countries have them free (like France with nearly 9M people under the poverty line). I'm sure UK could manage to lower the price of an ID card for their citizens.
Just like Northern Ireland already uses free Election ID cards.

ID cards aren't necessary. There is no problem they solve.

Obviously you're a big fan for some reason. I can only speculate.

Click to shrink...

It's good to fight fraud (not just at elections), to fast-track security/police checks, to help for commercial/personal documents (bank, administration, etc), to avoid using a document a company should have no hold of (like a passport that is way more important, or a credit/debit card that can be used to get more info out of a person)...
It's like a passport, but cheaper (or free), smaller, and useful in a ton of situations. No need to spend money or fill some conditions like a driving permit either.

I'm not "a big fan", I just know them since I'm a kid and have never seen any issues with them. Nor has it caused any issue in countries having them.

I'm not sure how the UK having a National Number issued on a letter or asking you to show a driving permit (or a passport) in those situations is somehow better.
Many EU countries also have Social/Health cards to use (rather than having to tell all your details every time to an hospital or a doctor office), and they are also way faster to use. It's just simpler and faster for everyone involved, both the citizen and the administration.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

Does the UK not have compulsory ID? I was shock when I learned the US doesn’t but I had no idea that the UK doesn’t either.

 

[Deleted member 835]

Labour did 30£ ID cards, while most EU countries have them free (like France with nearly 9M people under the poverty line). I'm sure UK could manage to lower the price of an ID card for their citizens.
Just like Northern Ireland already uses free Election ID cards.

It's good to fight fraud (not just at elections), to fast-track security/police checks, to help for commercial/personal documents (bank, administration, etc), to avoid using a document a company should have no hold of (like a passport that is way more important, or a credit/debit card that can be used to get more info out of a person)...
It's like a passport, but cheaper (or free), smaller, and useful in a ton of situations. No need to spend money or fill some conditions like a driving permit either.

I'm not "a big fan", I just know them since I'm a kid and have never seen any issues with them. Nor has it caused any issue in countries having them.

I'm not sure how the UK having a National Number issued on a letter or asking you to show a driving permit (or a passport) in those situations is somehow better.
Many EU countries also have Social/Health cards to use (rather than having to tell all your details every time to an hospital or a doctor office), and they are also way faster to use. It's just simpler and faster for everyone involved, both the citizen and the administration.

Click to shrink...

They won't and a lot of people can't afford €30 like I said.

UK also has 14m at least in poverty with 8.7m in food poverty (can't afford the right food or enough food) and around 4m in extreme poverty.

With large percentages of minorities in poverty this is very much voter suppression. Specially as most minorities vote Labour

 

[Psychotext]

I'm not "a big fan", I just know them since I'm a kid and have never seen any issues with them. Nor has it caused any issue in countries having them.

Click to shrink...

This is literally the point though. You've always had them, so you're used to them... most of the UK hasn't, and frankly, most of us don't want them.

As for use of health services etc... you don't need proof of ID to use them, you just use them. This, also, is a good thing. Unless you're going to argue that you don't want people living in your country to have access to healthcare without barriers?

Having recently been admitted to hospital in an emergency, I was not once asked to prove who I was or give them any sort of identification.

 

[Siggy-P]

So they require ID to "tackle electoral fraud" but have no plans to give everyone free ID cards then?

Blatant as can be.

 

[Naga]

They won't and a lot of people can't afford €30 like I said.

UK also has 14m at least in poverty with 8.7m in food poverty (can't afford the right food or enough food) and around 4m in extreme poverty.

With large percentages of minorities in poverty this is very much voter suppression. Specially as most minorities vote Labour

Click to shrink...

You completely missed most of what I posted. I didn't talk about 30€ ID cards.
Nor did I say anywhere that this law wasn't voter suppression in this context. Context is important.

This is literally the point though. You've always had them, so you're used to them... most of the UK hasn't, and frankly, most of us don't want them.

As for use of health services etc... you don't need proof of ID to use them, you just use them. This, also, is a good thing. Unless you're going to argue that you don't want people living in your country to have access to healthcare without barriers?

Having recently been admitted to hospital in an emergency, I was not once asked to prove who I was or give them any sort of identification.

Click to shrink...

You misunderstood me for the health service part. It's not an ID card and has nothing to do with it, it was an example of cards making it faster than having your national insurance number and other administration procedures when you switch doctors in the UK for example. Of course you don't need to give ID when you are admitted in an hospital for emergency, who even said that?

"most of the UK hasn't, and frankly, most of us don't want them"
Most of the UK reads dumb newspapers and believed the EU had laws about bananas, I'm honestly not sure at this point if a UK citizen knows why he doesn't want something, and if he would trust someone saying the contrary. No offense, but I've said the point in the post you've just quoted, and completely avoided talking about it.

 

[Deleted member 835]

You completely missed most of what I posted. I didn't talk about 30€ ID cards.
Nor did I say anywhere that this law wasn't voter suppression in this context. Context is important.

You misunderstood me for the health service part. It's not an ID card and has nothing to do with it, it was an example of cards making it faster than having your national insurance number and other administration procedures when you switch doctors in the UK for example. Of course you don't need to give ID when you are admitted in an hospital for emergency, who even said that?

"most of the UK hasn't, and frankly, most of us don't want them"
Most of the UK reads dumb newspapers and believed the EU had laws about bananas, I'm honestly not sure at this point if a UK citizen knows why he doesn't want something, and if he would trust someone saying the contrary. No offense, but I've said the point in the post you've just quoted, and completely avoided talking about it.

Click to shrink...

You are saying the Government should give free I.D out, I have said twice that won't happen. So now that is out the way it will cost people cash, which many haven't got.

You can keep on going on about what other countries do, but it won't happen in England.

 

[Naga]

You are saying the Government should give free I.D out, I have said twice that won't happen. So now that is out the way it will cost people cash, which many haven't got.

You can keep on going on about what other countries do, but it won't happen in England.

Click to shrink...

I could say it'll happen, but it wouldn't make any of us right about it.
Who knows what will happen with the UK a year from now at this point.

 

[Psychotext]

You misunderstood me for the health service part. It's not an ID card and has nothing to do with it, it was an example of cards making it faster than having your national insurance number and other administration procedures when you switch doctors in the UK for example. Of course you don't need to give ID when you are admitted in an hospital for emergency, who even said that?

Click to shrink...

Not when I was admitted... literally not once in the entire process.

I can't speak for switching doctors being any sort of complex process though. All I had to do was give my address and my old doctor's address when I did it. Didn't seem particularly arduous. I guess you just give your card instead of your old doctor's details though.

We've got plenty of reasons here for not wanting that information centralised. Not least because people have a habit of taking copies of those sort of databases and leaving them unencrypted on laptops / USB keys that then go on to get stolen...

 

[travisbickle]

Those graphs are interesting, reading the thread title I thought this would hit the elderly hardest. They can use paper liscences and often can't travel so no passport.
Figured they'd be more likely to vote Tory.

Although don't matter who they vote for, it's wrong whichever way you look at it.

Click to shrink...

As soon as you hit retirement you get a photo Id for free bus travel.

Anyone saying it will combat voter fraud is talking shit. Do you think there’s buses of Russians driving around with disguises going into polling stations to vote as multiple people?

 

[Keasar]

There's no ID card in the UK

https://www.gov.uk/identitycards

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_Cards_Act_2006

They use passports or driving licences usually to replace them.

Click to shrink...

Oh I see.
Well that makes it quite difficult.

Checked quickly on Swedish voting law and you can vote without an ID, you just need to have someone else certify your identity and that have an ID themselves. Also possible to just be known by one of the workers at that hall who registers the voters. Plus that you of course go to your assigned voting hall.

 

[Link83]

Labour did 30£ ID cards, while most EU countries have them free (like France with nearly 9M people under the poverty line). I'm sure UK could manage to lower the price of an ID card for their citizens.

Click to shrink...

Even if you disregard the money aspect, just filling out a passport form like this:-

https://assets.publishing.service.g...s/attachment_data/file/462278/OS_Form_010.pdf

Can seem daunting and confusing to some people.

As soon as you start to make people jump through hoops in order to vote there are a lot of people (Expecially poorer members of society) who simply wont bother, and thats exactly what the tories are counting on.

 

[Vagabundo]

No ID cards here in Ireland either. You can be asked for one if voting, but if your on the register and have a polling card then they dont bother.

I would generally be against carrying an ID around all the time with out - I know some countries you have to if you are stopped. I sometimes go out walking without anything like that.

This is blatant voter suppression and should be seen for the scussy gutter politics that it is.

 

[Klyka]

As a German the idea of not having an ID is really weird to me. It's just such a natural and normal thing here. Like, you just have an ID and you get a new one every ten years. That's just how it is.

 

[deadman322]

Do you think there’s buses of Russians driving around with disguises going into polling stations to vote as multiple people?

Click to shrink...

it's not the russians, but the students that are going around voting in multiple places.

well at least thats what my dad says.

 

[Psychotext]

it's not the russians, but the students that are going around voting in multiple places.

well at least thats what my dad says.

Click to shrink...

Has he ever met a student? You're lucky to be able to persuade them to vote, let alone vote in multiple places.

 

[Jegriva]

Isn't the use of photo ID contrary to the tenant of anonymous voting?

That seems fucked up...like it was taken right out of China

It's not a practical issue, it's one of principles.

Click to shrink...

In Italy you show a document to vote, they give you the paper, you go inside the little tent to vote, you unfold the paper, you mark the paper to delineate your vote, you fold the paper again, you go out and put the paper inside a big box with an hole on the top with all the other votes.

Simple as that, the same since 1946.

Holy shit they kept a law intended to mark Jews?! I thought Germany was progressive

Click to shrink...

man the UK/US stigma for photo ID is unbelievable...

Voting is a right. Attaching a monetary cost to exercising one's rights is inherently exclusionary. It's not a difficult concept.

Click to shrink...

In Italy Photo ID is mandatory for italian citizens (italian foreign residents have another kind of photo document) and costs 5.12€ every 5 years. I think the photo itself may cost more.

 

[Deleted member 10551]

Could this bite them in the ass? My guess is those without ID's in the UK would tend to be older white rural voters.

 

[John Caboose]

Same here, as a Swede i always found it weird with the opposition to this. I think a better battle would be to demand heavily subsidize IDs or make them free from the government. That's something i would really love here in Sweden.

But my view is probably skewed given that i'm from Sweden so... /shrug.

Click to shrink...

As a Swede, what the UK really needs is proportional representation in parliament by removing the archaic and undemocratic winner-takes-all/FPTP voting system. Them and every other country that wants to be able to call itself a democracy (US, Canada etc).

 

[Br3wnor]

Funny to see so many Europeans here defending Voter ID laws. Any obstacle to voting is voter suppression, plain and simple. Good luck UK, us Americans have to fight this bullshit every year basically.

 

[deadman322]

Has he ever met a student? You're lucky to be able to persuade them to vote, let alone vote in multiple places.

Click to shrink...

he's just salty that canterbury changed to labour last election.

 

[Kromeo]

Could this bite them in the ass? My guess is those without ID's in the UK would tend to be older white rural voters.

Click to shrink...

Rural voters have driver's licences

 

[shnurgleton]

It is healthy to be skeptical when the government goes around fixing problems that do not exist

 

[Fatoy]

As a German the idea of not having an ID is really weird to me. It's just such a natural and normal thing here. Like, you just have an ID and you get a new one every ten years. That's just how it is.

Click to shrink...

We have national insurance cards and driving licenses, but I genuinely don't know if you get a plastic NI card these days or if those have been totally phased out in favour of an online database the way car MOTs were. You are still required to carry your plastic driving license, I think, but obviously that only applies if you learn to drive - which fewer and fewer people are doing.

 

[Kromeo]

We have national insurance cards and driving licenses, but I genuinely don't know if you get a plastic NI card these days or if those have been totally phased out in favour of an online database the way car MOTs were. You are still required to carry your plastic driving license, I think, but obviously that only applies if you learn to drive - which fewer and fewer people are doing.

Click to shrink...

I don't know if NI cards are even an accepted form of ID, they literally just have your name on, no photo or date or birth

 

[Jam_Sandwich]

This needs a National ID otherwise this is unfairly penalising those under or near the poverty line.

Pay for Voting ID for put food on the table....

 

[Magnus Rockefeller]

You need a Photo ID to vote in Spain.

 

[Deleted member 50454]

man the UK/US stigma for photo ID is unbelievable...

Click to shrink...

How was Mussolini, mate?

Giuseppe Conte's not a racist, fash fuck is he?

Silvio Berlusconi? What an honest man.

You can trust these people not to target minorities and political opponents.

 

[Deleted member 22407]

Labour did 30£ ID cards, while most EU countries have them free (like France with nearly 9M people under the poverty line). I'm sure UK could manage to lower the price of an ID card for their citizens.
Just like Northern Ireland already uses free Election ID cards.

It's good to fight fraud (not just at elections), to fast-track security/police checks, to help for commercial/personal documents (bank, administration, etc), to avoid using a document a company should have no hold of (like a passport that is way more important, or a credit/debit card that can be used to get more info out of a person)...
It's like a passport, but cheaper (or free), smaller, and useful in a ton of situations. No need to spend money or fill some conditions like a driving permit either.

I'm not "a big fan", I just know them since I'm a kid and have never seen any issues with them. Nor has it caused any issue in countries having them.

I'm not sure how the UK having a National Number issued on a letter or asking you to show a driving permit (or a passport) in those situations is somehow better.
Many EU countries also have Social/Health cards to use (rather than having to tell all your details every time to an hospital or a doctor office), and they are also way faster to use. It's just simpler and faster for everyone involved, both the citizen and the administration.

Click to shrink...

I mean eehhhhhh to the part in in bold. Romanian ID cards for example are not allowed to be used as a form of ID when transacting with any bank in Ireland, this came down from the Central Bank of Ireland and is due to Romania's poor quality control and lack of self regulation. This year the EU announcement there would need to be tighter security around EU ID cards.

Also what do you think a company will be able to do with passport details that they couldn't do with ID card details? Sure they'll have the MRZ code (if the passport has one) but that's is used for fraud prevention, you can't do anything with it. They don't keep actual passport, you text seems to be rambling without any point, like you do know a debit / credit card is not a form of ID, what has that got to do with this topic?

Northern Ireland introduced ID checks when voting due to the amount of voter fraud that occurred in and around the troubles (and probably before actually). There was stories of 'the boys' knocking on people doors forcing them to vote multiple times for certain candidates under the threat of violence, this happened to my dad as a young man and my father in law (who are from 'different sides of the tracks as it where). This is clearly a daft reason as Voter IDing was introduced relatively recently so fraud isn't an issue now and as far as I'm aware has never been an issue in the UK.

In regards to your point about Social Health cards / National Instance cards / etc. these are not forms of ID and I'm really not sure what point you are trying to making with things being quicker. In the UK we go to the doctor / hospital and don't need to provide any for of ID / insurance number / etc. Surely not having to providing anything is quicker?

There is no reason to introduce mandatory ID checks when voting, there is no reason for someone to have to carry ID around with them, it solves a problem that does not exist and this latest from the Tories is solely to suppress votes.

 

[Zaph]

Can't believe the Tories even have people talking about voter fraud, let alone thinking it happens at an organised or statistically relevant scale. We truly are becoming the 51st state.

 

[Kareha]

Rural voters have driver's licences

Click to shrink...

I'm a rural voter and I don't have a drivers licence.

 

[ChrisP8Three]

I don't have a problem with the idea of ID for voting, However i have great exception at this transparent use of it right now to suppress votes against the supreme leader Boris Jon 'son.
You want to protect votes? sure - provide Passports, driving licenses or a citizen ID for free a substantial length before the next major vote, otherwise don't dress this up as anything other than voter suppression

 

[Ash735]

13 year olds can have a kid ... and a job.

Barely any 18 year olds understand how the world works (whichever side you're on) let alone 16 year olds.

Like I said, as much a stupid and ill thought tactic as the one in the OP.

Click to shrink...

Can you fight and die for your country? Yes? Then you should also be able to vote.

 

[Hodgy]

13 year olds can have a kid ... and a job.

Barely any 18 year olds understand how the world works (whichever side you're on) let alone 16 year olds.

Like I said, as much a stupid and ill thought tactic as the one in the OP.

Click to shrink...

you are vastly underestimating 16 year olds. it wasn't until fairly recently that you finished school at 16 in the uk .

 

[Lucreto]

In Ireland we have a polling card and you require ID but I think I have been checked once in the last 14 years.

I always had ID though. I needed it to buy alcohol from 18 onwards. It must be different in the UK. Do people not get age checked at pubs and off licenses?

 

[Deleted member 835]

 

[RocknRola]

Ideally, if the UK wanted to transition to national ID system (and forcing it on matters like voting), you'd have a 5-10 year grace period that allowed people to actually get one but still do all of the stuff they need in the meanwhile without it. Also the pricing for said national ID should be "symbolical" at best. The equivalent of 5€ or 10€ (in the worst case scenario). Ideally it should be free (at least for the 1st issue of the card each person gets) if it's to become mandatory.

Of course, since this is clearly a rushed move in order to directly influence the voting outcome of the nearest elections, they said fuck all to that and will to the the best of their intents try to screw entire demographics out of their voice/decision power. Which is 100% scummy and a clear power grab move.

The way this whole Brexit thing came about and ended up being forced on the UK as a whole is just a never ending snowball of lies, deception and scummy politics. This is just yet another part of it, it seems.

 

[Tuppen]

Funny to see so many Europeans here defending Voter ID laws. Any obstacle to voting is voter suppression, plain and simple. Good luck UK, us Americans have to fight this bullshit every year basically.

Click to shrink...

It's just a different perspective due to different circumstances. In many countries photo IDs are so ubiquitous that it is not an obstacle. It has been made perfectly clear that that isn't the case in the UK though.

The photo ID phobia is interesting though.

 

[sweetmini]

Where I live people need an Id with photo to vote, that s because there were a lot of cases where people voted on behalf of the recently deceased to increase number of votes.
Id is free to make as far as I know. It s not mandatory on self if you walk, however if you don t have one you must have a minimum sum of money on you to not be considered a bum (2 euros I think).