A row broke out over the Government’s 'rushed and ill-conceived' new law requiring voters to show proof of ID at South Gloucestershire’s local elections in May. Residents will have to show an accepted form of identification for the first time when they go to the polls and face being barred if they do not have one.
Opposition Lib Dem Cllr Tristan Clark told a council meeting that more than 8,000 people in the district were thought to lack the required ID and could be 'disenfranchised'. But South Gloucestershire Council cabinet member Conservative Cllr Ben Burton insisted that the changes in last year’s Elections Act had been 'well considered' and that the list of accepted identification was 'incredibly long'.
Frampton Cotterell ward Cllr Clark told a full council meeting: “The number of voters who lack an accepted form of ID in South Gloucestershire could under the Cabinet Office’s own assessment exceed 8,000 people. Will polling station staff be recording the number of people they turn away for lacking the requisite form of ID so that proper analysis of the residents disenfranchised by this rushed and ill-conceived legislation can occur?”
