Electoral administrators are right to warn about the potential chaos of rushing in requirements for voters to take photo ID to polling stations from next May (Report, 3 November).
A simple solution to prevent such chaos, and save the potential £180m that the government estimates the scheme could cost, was presented to the House of Lords last April. The official poll card should have been allowed as one of the forms of identity. Stolen poll cards could be reported and replaced, and those using the original cards would run a high risk of being apprehended.
Labour secured a concession in the elections bill related to trade union funding. However, while your article says that “Labour has opposed voter ID”, when I moved the crucial amendment to allow the use of poll cards as ID, 69 Lib Dem peers voted for it (82% of our number), but only 59 Labour peers did so (35% of their number).
Up to 2 million people may be deprived of their vote because they lack the requisite form of ID prescribed by the government. Older person’s bus passes will be acceptable, but young person’s rail cards will not. This act of voter suppression should have been more strongly opposed.
Chris Rennard
Liberal Democrat, House of Lords
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