Good Law Project plans legal challenge over voter ID rules

 

 From Good Law Project

Plans to bring forward a legal challenge over new mandatory voter ID rules ahead of the next general election were announced by Good Law Project yesterday (Sunday 30th April). This comes on the back of mounting concerns that the Government’s Elections Act 2022, which requires voters to present certain forms of photo ID, could lead to significant numbers being turned away from polling booths at this Thursday’s local elections across England.

This legislation, expected to cost the taxpayer up to £180 million over ten years, provides a list of valid Government-accepted photo IDs to vote with. However, the list has sparked significant controversy as it includes many forms of ID available to older people, such as an Older Person’s Bus Pass or 60+ Oyster Card, but disallows 18+ Oyster Cards and 16-25 railcards.

Good Law Project has been raising concerns about how these rules could disenfranchise young people and other communities. 

As a possible solution, the Government recently introduced ‘Voter Authority Certificates’, but the latest figures show the scheme has had a very poor take up with around 4% of the estimated 2.1 million people who do not have valid ID applying for one.

Good Law Project has taken and will proceed from legal advice from a team led by a specialist King’s Counsel to monitor the effects and impacts of the voter ID rules on the upcoming local elections and bring a case against the Government to challenge these rules before the general election.

Executive Director of Good Law Project, Jo Maugham KC, said:

The voter ID rules are a really bad thing to happen in a democracy - a needless act of sabotage against the universality of the franchise. 

On the evidence, they cannot be explained otherwise than as an attempt to deny those likely to vote against the Government the ability to do so. They need to be challenged, in court. And this is exactly what we plan to do.

IMPORTANT: DON'T LOSE YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE! INFORMATION ON VOTER ID

 

The GLA has launched a non-party campaign to raise public knowledge on the VoterID now needed to vote in elections. There is concern that some residents, especially young people, may not have the necessary ID to vote, thus undermining democracy.

The GLA helped by other organisations have launched a Voter Registration Hub with much useful information including resources for teachers in high schools and colleges. I have included some of the resources here.  Go to  https://registertovote.london/home/voter-registration-landing-page/

 

British Sign Language Video 

 

Never take your right to vote for granted 

 

From the Chartists to the Suffragettes, the history of voting rights is littered with examples of people taking extremely brave actions to secure the vote.

 

From a group of Barons tracking down a king in a muddy marshland and forcing him to sign a piece of paper in 1215, to the eventual universal suffrage of all adults in the United Kingdom 713 years late, we must remember that the right to vote in this country wasn't always guaranteed, and gaining it never came easy.

 

The 1819 Peterloo Massacre saw 17 people killed for demanding the right to vote after cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000-80,000 protesters.

 

Chartism was a working class movement in Britain 1838-1857 that acted nationally, protesting and petitioning to demand voter suffrage.

 

The Suffragettes were a militant movement of women demanding the right to vote. They used radical action to secure this right, which led to members of the movement being imprisoned and even dying in the struggle.