In a little more than three months' time, voters across Liverpool will go to the polls for a series of all out elections to choose their new council.
Amid the lingering cloud of the Max Caller Report of 2021 and the financial bind the local authority finds itself in, nobody is under any illusion that May’s ballots mark a difficult election for the city.
However, if you hadn’t been paying attention, the electoral process could have just got a little bit more difficult for some. With boundary changes to how the city is laid out and the number of councillors to vote for in each ward already being implemented at this year’s city elections, the UK Government has added another layer of potential confusion and controversy to proceedings.
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From this year, elections nationwide will require voters to carry photographic ID with them to cast a ballot at their polling station. As of May 4 - polling day in Liverpool and UK wide - those hoping to carry out their democratic duty will have to carry with them a driving licence, passport or other acceptable form of identification as per new Whitehall mandated guidelines.
This has come in following the passing of the Elections Act 2022 through Parliament last April. The practice is already in place in Northern Ireland but is a first of its kind in England, Wales and Scotland.
As per Liverpool Council’s website, when you turn up to cast your vote later this year, you will need to take with you one of the following: A passport, driving licence - including provisional licence, a Blue Badge, older or disabled person’s bus pass, identity card with Proof of Age Standards Scheme (PASS) mark, a biometric immigration document, a defence identity card or certain national identity cards. However, if you have a student card, it won’t be good enough - which could prove incredibly problematic in a university-heavy city like Liverpool.
In a bid to tackle the issue, those without the required ID can apply for a voter authority certificate online or by post, with a deadline set for April to secure a card. The move to introduce photo ID has been seen as a thinly veiled move by the Conservative government to try and make voting more difficult for those who traditionally don’t go blue at the ballot box.
Cllr Richard Kemp, leader of the Liberal Democrat group at Liverpool Council, said if anything it was likely to turn voters away. He said: “It’s a solution looking for a problem to solve.
“There have been very few offences to occur from elections and it’s not something I’ve known to happen. Like all election offences, it’s very, very rare.
“What this will do is cause chaos at polling stations in the first 12 months. It will disenfranchise some people, particularly like the elderly or those without a passport.
“It will make things difficult for young people and will suppress voting and cause chaos.” Voters must ensure they have the genuine document when they arrive at polling stations in May, but in another quirk, the document itself can be out of date as long as it is still a photographic likeness.
A motion has been laid down by Labour councillors Laura Robertson-Collins, William Shortall, James Roberts and Nick Small ahead of Liverpool Council’s full meeting next week, outlining their opposition to the plans. The motion is seeking wider local authority backing to call on the government to delay the roll-out as the process has “too short a timetable to be implemented now, which could mean a substantial number of voters could miss out on their democratic right to vote, due to what is an over burden of administrative rules.”
The motion added: “The Voter ID requirement has had little public exposure to the voting public and the first notice many will get about this requirement will be the request for ID at the polling station, with evidence showing the voter never returns to the poll station for the second time with Photo ID to vote.” The councillors are calling on the government to also fully cover additional costs arising from the implementation of the Elections Act and Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson to write to the city’s MPs to outline the council’s concerns.
Cllr Robertson-Collins told the ECHO that the new requirements would only make voting more difficult. She said: It’s an absolute disgrace, it’s going to massively disenfranchise people, especially in urban communities.
“This has been going on for years and thankfully people are now starting to realise. This isn’t just a Labour issue, Conservative councillors are crying out about this.
“From an officer point of view, there are national bodies speaking out saying they haven’t been given proper guidance.” The legitimacy of voting has come into the international spotlight after the US elections of 2016 and 2020 with Donald Trump stoking concerns around voter fraud which led to the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Cllr Robertson-Collins said it wasn’t a coincidence that a move to tighten voting had been made in the UK since. She said: “It’s blatant voter suppression straight out of the American Republican playbook. Within the UK, there’s not so much of a problem with this.
“It just doesn’t need solving. It will put immense pressure on volunteers and the government is doing nothing to raise it. It’s absolutely appalling, there’s no need to do it.”
Professor Jon Tonge, is a professor of politics at the University of Liverpool. He said changes to the voter ID requirement was less of an issue than people actually going to the polls at all. He said: "I don't think it will make a great deal of difference.
"The sort of peoiple who vote in local elections pretty much do as they're told anyway so they'll have the ID ready. I think what you will see in the first year it's rolled out is people being turned away from polling stations, however hard the government gets the message out."
Prof Tonge said he recognised concerns over potential disenfranchisement of voters but expected people to get to grips with the changes moving forward. He said while one in three people vote in person, there was further scope for scrutiny of those who vote by post.
He added: "What checks are done there? One in five vote by post now, but the biggest issue is getting people to the polling stations at all."
Information on the changes to voting requirements and what you need to take to the polling station can be found online at https://liverpool.gov.uk/voterid/
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