By Andrew MacAskill
LONDON (Reuters) – About 14,000 people were denied a vote in English local elections last month after they were unable to provide identification required under a new law, the Electoral Commission said on Friday.
An interim report by the commission said early findings suggested that disabled people and the unemployed were more likely to have been unable to vote because of the changes.
Voters in England were legally required to produce photo ID for the first time at the May 4 elections, with the government saying it was essential to combat election fraud.
But the new law was criticised by many opposition politicians and campaigners who said it was intended to suppress turnout.
Critics said it was more likely to hit poorer people, ethnic minorities and younger people who were less inclined to vote for the ruling Conservative Party, although it also impacts older people who do vote for it.
They also said it was disproportionate given the low levels of electoral fraud generally recorded in Britain.
Reuters reported last month that more than 13,000 people were denied a vote in the local elections with those in poorer areas most impacted.
The evidence suggests “that some people were prevented from voting in polling stations due to the requirement, and significantly more did not attempt to because they lacked the required ID,” said Craig Westwood, director of communications policy and research at the Electoral Commission.
Out of the voters in England that went to polling stations, 0.7% of people were initially turned away while around two thirds of these people returned later to vote, the Electoral Commission found.
Among those recorded as being turned away from a polling station, 70% had not brought any ID and 30% brought a type that was not accepted, according to the Electoral Commission, which will publish a full report on the impact in September.
The opposition Labour party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said it was “particularly alarming that under-represented groups look to have been more likely” to have been denied a vote. She said the new rules are having “a chilling effect on democracy”.
Nontheless, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives suffered heavy losses in the elections, undermining his attempts to revive their fortunes before a national vote expected next year.
Parliament’s Levelling Up, Housing and Communities select committee announced on Thursday that it will question the Electoral Commission and election administrators on July 3 to understand the impact of the new law.
Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg – a cabinet minister when the law was passed – said last month the government had tried to “gerrymander” the vote with the new law but actually found it affected elderly voters who traditionally voted for the Conservatives.
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
