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It's honestly a relief to see people on here talking about the voter ID plans. They've been on my radar since I came back to work last November and I am terrified by them. (1)
There's a long, racist and partisan history of voter suppression tactics in the USA. I have always been grateful that we don't do that kind of thing over here. Hubris. (2)
Far too many people don't vote already. Voter fraud is not a thing. Millions of people don't have permitted ID. Millions more don't need another thing to remember when they squeeze a trip to the polling station into their busy lives. (3)
Polling station officers don't want to be going through long, complex lists of acceptable forms of ID or dealing with people annoyed at being turned away. None of us want to be waiting in long queues as a result. (4)
The weirdest part? They claim this will boost turnout because people will have more faith in electoral integrity. I mean, who in the history of humankind chose not to vote because they didn't need to show ID at the polling station?! (5)
In our FPTP constituency system vote margins are often small. Smaller than the number of people locked out of the democratic system by these plans. Or nudged out. Because it's that bit harder and when you're poor and marginalised it's hard enough to make the time to vote. (6)
This is ultimately why I'm terrified. Because when even fewer poor and marginalised people vote there will be even less reason for those seeking to gain or maintain power to care about them. And that's where these plans will lead. (end)
