It should surprise no one that making it harder to vote reduces the number of votes cast. So it has proven, with the obligation to show photo ID at a polling station applied for the first time in English local elections in May. A report published on Wednesday by the Electoral Commission confirms that the new rules had a negative impact on participation, vindicating warnings that the government had said were unfounded.
Turnout was marginally lower than in comparable previous ballots and, according to the commission’s research, the ID requirement accounted for 4% of absences. That might not seem like a lot, but when extrapolated to a national ballot, it threatens to silence hundreds of thousands of voices. Local elections tend to bring out stalwart participants, who are more likely to be politically engaged enough to know about the new rules, which means it is a reasonable assumption that the suppression effect of ID would be higher in a general election.
