The government has indicated it could expand the list of ID people can use to vote after a damning Electoral Commission report about the rollout of the new rules, but has said this is unlikely to cover documents used by younger people such as 18-plus travel passes.
Addressing MPs about the report, which warned that hundreds of thousands of people could be excluded from a general election, with a disproportionate impact on more disadvantaged communities, levelling up minister Rachel Maclean said ministers would now review the scheme.
However, while the Electoral Commission and a group representing electoral officials have called for rapid action to ensure any changes are in place before a general election, Maclean declined to give any details for the review.
The commission’s study, based on the impact of voter ID in May’s local elections across England, made a series of recommendations including a broader list of possible documents and methods to allow people without ID to vote.
Answering an urgent question from the Liberal Democrats in the Commons, Maclean reiterated the government’s insistence that the scheme had worked very well, despite evidence it stopped a number of people from voting, particular those who were younger, poorer, with disabilities, or from minority ethnic backgrounds.
Asked by Labour’s Andrew Gwynne if the government would consider including more young people’s ID cards – the current list includes seven types of documents for older people, and one for younger age groups – Maclean hinted that while expansion was being considered more generally, this was unlikely.
“I would like the honourable gentleman to look very carefully at the eligibility for 18-year-olds’ Oyster cards and the eligibility for 60+ Oyster cards. They are different,” Maclean told Gwynne, referring to a travel card used in London.
“The eligibility for the 60+ card involves significantly more requirements, including a passport or a driving licence. And of course, it will be the case when we try to expand the level of identification that can be used, we are going to say yes in some instances and no in others, if that eligibility is different.”
The commission’s report found that among people who did not vote in May, 4% said this was because of voter ID, and that this disfranchising effect was very likely to be proportionately greater in a general election.
If it went up to just 5%, it could mean about 800,000 people staying away from the polls at a general election.
The study additionally found there tended to be a higher proportion of people turned away for lacking ID in more deprived areas.
With a general election due this or next year, with a maximum of six weeks’ notice for a snap poll, both the Electoral Commission and the Association of Electoral Administrators have called for rapid efforts to make sure the new system works effectively.
But asked by Labour’s Andrew Western who would conduct the government’s review of the Electoral Commission’s report, and to set out its terms of reference, Maclean said she could do neither yet. “We will make further statements on that process in due course,” she said.
In an often pugnacious appearance, Maclean brushed aside Labour, Lib Dem and SNP concerns about the new voting system as political posturing, saying previous elections had contained a “staggering vulnerability”, despite the lack of evidence about in-person voter fraud.
At one point, Maclean prompted derision from the SNP’s Kirsten Oswald for arguing that the previous voting system might have allowed “international actors” to manipulate elections, citing recent worries about Chinese spying.
“Which international actors are pretending to be Mrs McLaughlin from the high street and trying to vote?” Oswald asked.
