Can We Campaign For People To Register For Postal Vote

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fmttmadmin

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Staff member
I got my polling card yesterday for the May elections and when you see the list of permissible photo ID it is really appalling. There are just so many people that will not have the permitted ID, especially young people and those that have neither passports or driving licences. It is so stacked in favour of over 60s it is scandalous.
In any case - lets see if we can encourage as many people as possible to register for a postal vote. The deadline is really early as well 18th April.
Here is the list for those that have not seen it yet.

voter ID.jpg
 
I applied for a postal vote last week and received my polling card yesterday, probably null and void when I go to the station.
 
Had to help a 70 year old woman apply for her Voter Authority Certificate the other day because she had no other form of ID, and had been confused by the online form.

Thankfully her voter ID arrived yesterday, but there will be many thousands who either aren't aware or don't get it done in time.
 
There'll be an app for the voting system before long and it'll become mandatory to vote, even if you vote N/A or None of the above or whatever.
 
Anton_Berg said:
I'm so old, I have a paper drivers' licence, which can be a nuisance. Less of the ageism please.
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So do I - in fact over 8 million still have paper licences but read down the list and see how many references there are to over 60 and ask yourself why there is no equivalent young persons bus, rail card or student card?
But regardless of age etc - this is going to stop a lot of people voting - lets campaign for people to register for a postal vote.
 
Between 60 - 65 possibly but after that most will have a bus pass which is accepted for older people but similar ones for college or university not accepted for younger people. Even dafter in London with the disparities between oyster cards based on age.
 
I think there could be income/class bias, more than age bias.

Low income people are less likely to go abroad or drive in my opinion so have less need for passport and driving licence.

Over 80s often give up their driving licence and give up travelling overseas (because of medical and mobility issues). But they still want to vote.
 
fmttmadmin said:
So do I - in fact over 8 million still have paper licences but read down the list and see how many references there are to over 60 and ask yourself why there is no equivalent young persons bus, rail card or student card?
But regardless of age etc - this is going to stop a lot of people voting - lets campaign for people to register for a postal vote.
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Is it not because all those additional forms of ID require some sort of official ID in the first place to get them whereas a young person's education ID doesn't so there wouldn't be usable as ID.

It would be so much easier if we had a universal ID system. I agree with the sentiment that voter ID seems like a reasonable suggestion but I am also aware it is being brought in because they know who is most likely to have it and therefore most likely to be able/not able to vote.

Redwurzel said:
I think there could be income/class bias, more than age bias.
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I agree with this as well. You have to be 18 to vote and you can have a driving licence from 16 so you have 2 years to apply for one. People need them for other reasons than driving/voting so most people will have one but there will be people that can't justify the expense of one if it is just to go out and vote.
 
I don't agree with ID being mandatory, but a universally accepted form of ID should absolutely be available free of charge.

This voting ID presumably won't be accepted as proof of identity in other aspects of life.
 
TeaCider said:
I don't agree with ID being mandatory, but a universally accepted form of ID should absolutely be available free of charge.

This voting ID presumably won't be accepted as proof of identity in other aspects of life.
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It is photo ID remember - but yes it is biased against people of lower income but it is also against younger people - there travel and student ID etc should be valid. There is virtually no fraud in any case. All this does is provide an extra reason to keep people from voting.
Regardless. Lets campaign to get people to register for postal votes, then everyone gets the opportunity to vote.
 
fmttmadmin said:
It is photo ID remember - but yes it is biased against people of lower income but it is also against younger people - there travel and student ID etc should be valid. There is virtually no fraud in any case. All this does is provide an extra reason to keep people from voting.
Regardless. Lets campaign to get people to register for postal votes, then everyone gets the opportunity to vote.
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By using those forms of ID you are putting it on the institutions to verify ID and issue secure forms of ID. If you wanted to commit fraud then knocking up a printed ID form a college or bus company would be too easy. It makes sense that you can only use an ID you can obtain by already having an official ID. Someone at some point has to do a stringent check.

How many people don't actually have the required form of ID? You need a driving licence or passport to open a bank account so I would expect even the poorest people to have one these days otherwise they can't receive benefits.
 
Nano said:
By using those forms of ID you are putting it on the institutions to verify ID and issue secure forms of ID. If you wanted to commit fraud then knocking up a printed ID form a college or bus company would be too easy. It makes sense that you can only use an ID you can obtain by already having an official ID. Someone at some point has to do a stringent check.

How many people don't actually have the required form of ID? You need a driving licence or passport to open a bank account so I would expect even the poorest people to have one these days otherwise they can't receive benefits.
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You can use a birth certificate can't you. But a surprising amount of people do not have bank accounts. Passport office is on strike for 5 weeks now as well.
Having to take photo ID to a polling station is bound to reduce numbers voting - encouraging people to register for postal vote now means those people will vote.
 
Nano said:
How many people don't actually have the required form of ID? You need a driving licence or passport to open a bank account so I would expect even the poorest people to have one these days otherwise they can't receive benefits.
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Do you? I have never had a driving licence and I was in my thirties before I had a passport but I had a bank account when I was 18. In fact I had a savings account when I was six. This is gerrymandering, pure and simple.
 
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fmttmadmin said:
So do I - in fact over 8 million still have paper licences but read down the list and see how many references there are to over 60 and ask yourself why there is no equivalent young persons bus, rail card or student card?
But regardless of age etc - this is going to stop a lot of people voting - lets campaign for people to register for a postal vote.
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Thats exactly why they are doing it to stop young people voting.
 
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Nano said:
By using those forms of ID you are putting it on the institutions to verify ID and issue secure forms of ID. If you wanted to commit fraud then knocking up a printed ID form a college or bus company would be too easy. It makes sense that you can only use an ID you can obtain by already having an official ID. Someone at some point has to do a stringent check.

How many people don't actually have the required form of ID? You need a driving licence or passport to open a bank account so I would expect even the poorest people to have one these days otherwise they can't receive benefits.
Click to expand...

I have never had a driving licence and my passport is out of date yet opened a new bank account a few months ago without any of these documents being needed.
 
fmttmadmin said:
It is photo ID remember - but yes it is biased against people of lower income but it is also against younger people - their travel and student ID etc should be valid.
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You’re letting your justified anger cloud your logic on this narrow point and draw a false equivalence. As others have said the allowed IDs are all issued by public bodies after stringent checks. The suggested alternatives aren’t. I can’t use my senior railcard either, for the same reasons.

fmttmadmin said:
There is virtually no fraud in any case. All this does is provide an extra reason to keep people from voting.
Regardless. Let’s campaign to get people to register for postal votes, then everyone gets the opportunity to vote.
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Won’t argue with you there though.
 
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