Voter ID failure as dozens turned away from polling stations

Scores of voters have been turned away from polling stations for not having a valid form of photographic ID, campaigners have warned, with the elderly and people from ethnic minorities worst affected.

Voter ID Watch, a campaign group dedicated to documenting the impact of voter ID laws, said its volunteers have witnessed more than 100 examples of people being refused the right to vote at around 30 polling stations.

They were located at polling stations across the capital and other major cities including Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Glasgow.

Minah Rehman, 30, was turned away in Manchester. The married mother-of-one lives in Pakistan with her husband but is a UK citizen and flew back on June 21 to look after her grandfather, who is ill with Parkinson’s, and to cast her vote.

“I flew home early to the UK to vote for a better future for my son, but I was turned away at the polling station,” she said.

While back in the UK her passport expired and she had no other form of photo ID.

In order to cast her ballot, she took a photocopy of her expired passport with her to the polling station as well as the tracking number for her new passport, which has not yet arrived.

“I’d gone to vote with my whole family. We have the same address, and they’d all brought their photo IDs. But it still wasn’t enough to vouch for me,” she said.

Ms Rehman, who works as a freelance science writer, has voted in every election throughout her life and said she was “disappointed” with the law change, which was first introduced for local elections in May 2023.

“I’m a UK citizen. I’ve worked here, paid taxes, this is my home,” she said.

“If there was one ID everyone has then it would make sense. But if not everyone has an ID, then it shouldn’t be required.”

Veterans’ ID cards have not been accepted as a valid form of voter ID in the general election.

This is despite Johnny Mercer, the Veterans Minister, vowing to “do all I can” to have it added to the list of valid identification after ex-servicemen were left unable to to vote in the local elections earlier in 2024.

A spokesman for Voter ID Watch, said: “Voter ID rules represent a solution no one asked for, to a problem that doesn’t exist. Just 0.1 per cent of voter fraud allegations between 2017-2022 resulted in a conviction. Two people, across two general elections.

‘Only a snapshot’

“What we’re seeing from our polling station monitoring across the UK is scores of people being turned away who should be able to exercise their democratic right. And that’s only a snapshot of the situation.

“From the suffragettes to wars fought to defend our civil liberties, our right to vote is precious and we can’t just throw it away. The next government should absolutely look at scrapping something that’s going to cost taxpayers £180 million when no one wanted it in the first place.”

Jess Garland, of the Electoral Reform Society, said: “No one should be prevented from casting a vote they are entitled to, yet we have already seen voter ID prevent at least 14,000 people from voting at last year’s local elections.

“During this general election we have again heard from people saying they were unable to cast their vote because they did not have an accepted form of ID, and from others who appear to have been caught out due to confusion over the rules.

“It is clear that voter ID is having a disproportionate and damaging impact on our elections and we would urge the next government to scrap this unnecessary barrier to voting.

“At a minimum. the next government needs to review this scheme and provide better options for voters.”