ID rules stop people’s right to vote in the UK

Some people were unable to vote in yesterday’s local elections.

The new ID rules are preventing some people from voting and opposition MPs and some administrators said the problem could be worse than appeared because there’s no conclusive data collected for those who couldn’t vote.

The new law requires each person wanting to vote to have photo ID documents. The rule covers more than 8,000 seats across 230 councils in England.

Vulnerable people appeared to be the most affected as they reported difficulties such as a lack of the correct paperwork or being turned away for refusing to remove face masks.

A voter in Hampshire said she was turned away for not removing her face mask. She has an immunosuppressed condition and she brought video evidence of her putting on her mask. But she was unable to vote. She told reporters “I was denied my right to vote in person.”

“As an immunosuppressed person, I should have been able to vote safely with appropriate reasonable adjustments in place.”

Mark Oakley who is the co-leader of the patient campaign group, Evusheld UK which represents immunocompromised people said “We have heard of a number of people who have had to dig their heels in and say there weren’t taking off their mask.”

“We knew it was going to be a problem and we flagged it to the Electoral Commission weeks ago.”

The electoral commission said it was of a series of issues which need to be examined as it evaluates how successful the new voter ID system worked.