Local Elections: Widespread reports of voters without ID being rejected at polling stations
Scores of hopeful voters are being turned away at polling stations because they have not got valid photographic ID, ITV News has been told, as people take part in England's local elections.
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran tweeted her concern about "significant numbers" being rejected after learning about people without ID being unable to vote in her Oxford West and Abingdon constituency.
Polling station tellers in Oxfordshire have told ITV News "large numbers" are being turned away, reporting that between 10-25% have been unable to vote.
Even I knew about photo ID being required and I'm not one to keep a sharp eye on these things. The number of voters turned away and the number who return with a valid ID would be interesting.
Maybe we now have a clue as to why party logos are printed on ballot papers.
10 comments:
We voted this afternoon, mostly as an exercise in the workings of democracy(Ha!) to our granddaughter.
I can't remember if I voted for the Monster Loony Raving Party or the Loony Raving Monster Party. Who can tell the difference?
I’m still reeling form the leaflet sent out by our local Lib Dems (in Oxfordshire, but not Ms Moran’s area) stating that the requirement for photo ID is ‘part of a Conservative government plan to make it harder for people to exercise their right to vote’.
The Lib Dems have recently been on the receiving end of much public criticism in the county as their alliance with Labour and the Greens has led to some deeply unpopular policies. I wonder whether they are getting their excuses/accusations ready in case they take a drubbing at the ballot box as a result,
If carried out properly, it will get rid of some of the Asian bloc vote scams. All they need to do now is to deal with the epidemic of dodgy postal voting and prevent students at university from voting twice, and we will have become a little more democratic. Given that the Lib Dems and Labour are the obvious beneficiaries of voter fraud, one wonders why a long-term Conservative government with a stonking majority has not acted more decisively.
BBC news just now:
‘Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey […] told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the results showed that "tactical voting" could work in the next general election.’
(Admittedly, the BBC being what it is, this was in reply to a specific question on the Today programme).
SV, good point about students voting twice, but even once could be a problem; at a general election, one of the offspring reported that the Lib Dems were telling some students to vote where they were and sending others home, all depending on the situation in their home constituencies.
DJ - it would be a hoot if they were to rename themselves as the Monster Raving Green Party.
Macheath - if only they were honest and wrote 'a Conservative government plan to make it harder for people to exercise their right to vote for someone else’.
Sam and Macheath - I don't understand the reluctance to tackle postal and student vote fraud either. I think it's connected with a wider elite reluctance to take voting seriously in the first place. As long as people vote for the mainstream parties they don't care who gets in.
The era of 'Vote early, vote often', which our darker-skinned brethren allegedly followed is over. What a shame!
Ed - it is a shame. Nobody will be astounded if a Labour government reverses it.
Well I suppose it's a good method of turning away people who are too stupid to vote
Given the news value of people being turned away from polling stations and the ubiquity of mobile phones to catch and broadcast the aftermath, I should not be at all surprised if some of the ‘significant numbers’, especially in a place like Oxford, were doing it deliberately to generate and enhance the outrage; certainly it’s the kind of thing I might well have been involved in (or even orchestrated) back in my socialist firebrand days.
Your point about how many return later is a good one; there’s a big difference between being turned away for not having ID with you and being unable to vote at all.
Bucko - and I suspect that was one reason behind it.
Macheath - good point, I'm sure some activists would do that.
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