Liberty’s View on Voter ID plans: opportunistic, divisive and undemocratic

No matter our background or political leaning, we know that in a healthy democracy everyone should have the right to vote. However, introducing mandatory voter ID is a very real threat to this right.

Millions of people in the UK don’t have photo ID, and the vast majority of them come from communities that are already marginalised and under-represented by our political system.

If you’re young, if you’re a person of colour, if you’re disabled, trans or you don’t have a fixed address, you’re much less likely to have photo ID and could therefore be shut off from voting.

Meanwhile the Government’s own findings show our current voting system is safe and secure.

The Electoral Reform Society has also conducted research that found during the Government’s May 2018 voter ID pilot, twice as many people were blocked from voting than there were cases of voter fraud in the preceding seven years.

Opportunistic attack

As there is no justification for this threat to the right to vote, it feels like an opportunistic attack on the rights of some of the most marginalised people in society, and a classic example of ruling through division and distrust.

We’ve often said that voter ID is a solution in search of a problem. But under this Government, it’s much more than that.

This is a Government intent on undermining accountability at every turn.

It plans to make it harder to challenge the decisions of public authorities in court, to erode the Human Rights Act and to stifle the right protest.

Now it wants to make it harder to vote, particularly for people who are already marginalised.

If Ministers had any intention of making our voting system fairer, they would not be creating new barriers to voting, but focusing on making it easier for everyone to vote, and ensuring we can all have an equal say in our democratic process.

Undermining accountability

These plans are unjustified, discriminatory and divisive, but they are not simply a distraction.

They are profoundly anti-democratic and should be seen in the context of this Government’s ongoing bid to undermine accountability and erode the mechanisms we all use to hold it to account and stand up to power.

Over recent months, particularly in response to the Government’s Policing Bill, we have seen the positive impact that can be made when we respond to divisive attacks on our rights by uniting in solidarity with one another.

We must reject the politics of division and come together to defeat these divisive and discriminatory plans, and ensure everyone can have their voice heard.