Make sure this Tory government don’t take your right to vote!

Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Reading Borough Council, Councillor Meri O'Connell talks about voter ID in her latest 'From the Chamber' piece, also in Reading Today:

Many people are unaware that for the first time they will be required to show photo ID in order to cast their ballot in May’s upcoming local elections. If they forget to bring ID or don’t have any that the electoral staff are allowed to accept – they will be refused the right to vote.

Despite there being just 1 conviction and 1 caution for voter fraud across the entire UK in 2019, this current shambles of a Conservative government are pushing to spend an estimated £40 million over the next decade getting everyone to take ID to the polling station.

We in the Lib Dems are strongly opposed to this waste of time and money and are calling for the law to be repealed. The government’s own statistics on voter fraud show that photo ID is unnecessary and creates a barrier to residents exercising their democratic right to vote, particularly among marginalised groups and younger voters.

For the Conservatives to put such a tremendous amount of energy into this during a cost-of-living crisis, putting even more pressure on Reading Council’s budgets to implement it, is infuriating. It shows the Tory policy agenda does not match the priorities of local people and the massive challenges we collectively face.

In 2021 the average turnout in England’s local elections was just 35.9% of those registered to vote. I suspect this low turnout isn’t because people are content with how things are, but rather because they feel their vote won’t make any difference. With many voters feeling this fed up with politics, the last thing we need is another obstacle to taking part.

On the 1st of February this year only 10,000 people across the UK had actually applied for voter ID. According to an FOI from the Liberal Democrats, in Reading, only 35 people had applied! If you don’t have a driver’s licence, passport or bus pass with a photo on it, you should go onto the government’s website and look up ‘apply for photo id certificate’ (https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate). It’s free, and all you need is a recent digital photo and your National Insurance number. Alternatively you can register for a postal vote on Reading Borough Council’s website and cast your vote from the comfort of your own home (https://www.reading.gov.uk/the-council-and-democracy/elections-and-voting/register-to-vote/) - this is also free to do.

However you prefer to vote – make sure that this Conservative government don’t take away your democratic right to participate in May’s local elections.