A massive communication campaign is set to be launched across Greater Manchester to raise awareness of controversial new legislation requiring voters to show identification at polling stations in order to cast their ballots.
Councillor Bev Craig, the leader of Manchester city council, said millions of people across the country don't currently have the appropriate forms of ID - and claimed 'making it more difficult' for them to vote as a result was 'in many ways a democratic scandal'. The legislation will be in force by this May's local elections.
The Elections Act 2022, which introduces photo identification for in-person voting in Great Britain for the first time and changes to postal voting, received royal assent in April last year. There are, however, concerns the move could disenfranchise voters, while there is little evidence of electoral fraud at polling stations.
