Government figures released this morning reveal that since the election was called, only 57,418 applications have been made for Voter Authority Certificates (VACs), which are used at polling stations as proof of identity by those without other accepted forms of ID needed to vote.
The deadline for VAC applications was 5pm yesterday (Wednesday, June 26th). Since their introduction in January 2023, there have been 214,051 VAC applications. However, this number is overshadowed by the nearly 2 million voters estimated to lack an accepted form of ID. VACs do not expire but have a recommended renewal printed on them ten years after the date of issue.
The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) warns that the voter ID rules may cause further confusion at polling stations on election day, especially after thousands were caught out by these rules in local elections. This will be the first general election requiring millions of voters to show ID, notably in Scotland.
At least 14,000 people were prevented from voting in the 2023 local elections due to lack of accepted ID. Incidents included a decorated Afghanistan veteran unable to use his veteran’s ID card and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who introduced the voter ID laws, being caught out.
Confusion may persist on July 4th regarding veterans’ ID. Although the Government pledged to add veterans’ ID to the list of accepted forms after the local elections, the Electoral Commission stated new forms of ID won't be included for this general election.
Darren Hughes, Chief Executive, for Electoral Reform Society said:
“Voting is a fundamental democratic right and one person being stopped from casting their rightful vote is one too many.
“We have seen today that the number of voter authority certificate (VAC) applications is dwarfed by the number of people thought not to possess any of the accepted forms of ID, which means over a million voters risk being locked out of participating in the general election.
“That is a completely unacceptable situation in a modern democracy. It is clear that voter ID rules are having a disproportionate and damaging impact on our elections and should be scrapped by the next government.
“At the very least the list of accepted ID should be drastically expanded to ensure as many voters as possible can cast their ballot and we don’t see a repeat of the farcical scenes earlier this year, where we saw army veterans and even the former Prime Minster who brought the voter ID rules in being caught out at polling stations.”
