{"id":5555,"date":"2021-05-14T14:37:32","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T13:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.electoral-reform.org.uk\/?p=5555"},"modified":"2021-05-14T14:50:22","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T13:50:22","slug":"voter-id-17-leading-civil-society-groups-unite-to-call-for-dangerous-plans-to-be-dropped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/voter-id-17-leading-civil-society-groups-unite-to-call-for-dangerous-plans-to-be-dropped\/","title":{"rendered":"Voter ID: 18 leading civil society groups unite to call for dangerous plans to be dropped"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Leading UK civil society groups have united to challenge plans to block those without ID from voting, in a landmark joint statement co-ordinated by the ERS.<\/p>\n

Groups including Stonewall, Liberty, Operation Black Vote, NUS, Silver Voices and more say the government\u2019s proposals for mandatory voter ID are a \u2018dangerous distraction\u2019 that will \u2018bring up the drawbridge to millions of ordinary voters\u2019.<\/p>\n

The plans, which will cost up to \u00a320m per general election to implement, could see 3.5m people who lack ID locked out of the ballot box while making it harder for everyone to vote. According to the government\u2019s latest figures, one in ten people do not have an in-date, recognisable photo ID.<\/p>\n

Government proposals widely condemned<\/h3>\n

The proposals have been widely condemned by figures ranging from leading Conservatives, David Davis MP<\/a> and former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson<\/a>, as well as almost all opposition parties.<\/p>\n

Figures across the political spectrum and civil society are rightly standing up to these costly and undemocratic plans. When millions of people lack photo ID, these proposals would make it harder to vote.<\/p>\n

They risk disenfranchising a huge swathe of the public\u00a0\u2013\u00a0which is why groups representing a wide range of society are sounding the alarm.<\/p>\n

Instead of spending millions of pounds each election to lock down our polling stations, we should be closing the democratic divide and boosting political engagement. This coalition has one clear message to ministers: rethink this warped priority and scrap this dangerous ID\u00a0policy.<\/p>\n

Read the full statement:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mandatory voter ID is a dangerous distraction<\/h3>\n

We are writing to express our deep concern about government plans to force voters to show ID at the polling station \u2013 or be denied a vote.<\/p>\n

According to official figures, 3.5 million citizens do not have access to photo ID and 11 million do not have a passport or driving licence.<\/p>\n

As the government has often made clear, voting is safe and secure in the UK \u2013 making mandatory voter ID a solution in search of a problem.<\/p>\n

Instead, these proposals will turn polling workers into de facto bouncers \u2013 a role they do not want to have, and which raises its own risks of discretion and discrimination.<\/p>\n

Our democracy is already deeply unequal, with millions missing from the electoral roll, and with major gaps in turnout between groups. We need to be revitalising our democracy \u2013 not taking a sledgehammer to political engagement.<\/p>\n

Rather than inventing bogeymen and scare stories, ministers should focus on the real priorities facing our democracy.<\/p>\n

At a cost of up to \u00a320m per election, this is a worrying case of warped priorities. We urge ministers to engage with civil society groups on how to improve our political process, not undermine it.<\/p>\n

Mandatory voter ID will bring up the drawbridge to millions of ordinary voters. There is still time to think again.<\/p>\n

Signatories<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr Jess Garland, Director of Policy and Research, Electoral Reform Society<\/em>
\nDennis Reed Director Silver Voices<\/em>
\nNancy Kelley, CEO, Stonewall<\/em>
\nLord Simon Woolley, Founder and Director, Operation Black Vote<\/em>
\nKyle Taylor, Founder and Director, Fair Vote UK<\/em>
\nIbtisam\u00a0Ahmed, Policy and Research Manager, LGBT Foundation<\/em>
\nProfessor Matt Henn, Chair of Social Research, Nottingham Trent University<\/em>
\nSam Grant, Head of Policy and Campaigns, Liberty<\/em>
\nCara English, Head of Public Engagement, Gendered Intelligence<\/em>
\nPatricia Stapleton, Policy Manager, Traveller Movement\u202f<\/em>
\nIsobel\u00a0Ingham-Barrow, Head of Policy, MEND<\/em>
\nTim Hughes, Director, Involve<\/em>
\nNick\u00a0Lowles, CEO, HOPE\u00a0not hate<\/em>
\nLarissa Kennedy, President, National Union of Students (NUS)<\/em>
\nMete Coban MBE, Chief Executive, My Life My Say<\/em>
\nJo Hobbs, CEO, British Youth Council<\/em>
\nDorian Leatham, CEO, Migrants’ Rights Network
\n<\/em>Klina Jordan, Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Make Votes Matter
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Sign our petition against these dangerous mandatory ID plans today.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sign our petition to protect your right to vote<\/a> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leading UK civil society groups have united to challenge plans to block those without ID from voting, in a landmark joint statement co-ordinated by the ERS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-5555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-voter-id","tag-voter-id","feature-category-comment"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electoral-reform.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}