[Magdalen] Voter ID

[Scott Knitter]

I think one of the major problems with requiring ID to vote is that it
generally costs money to have a proper ID done, and requiring this
effectively disenfranchises those who can't afford or for some other
reason have no access to an ID. This has been used to keep members of
minority groups in some areas from voting.

All I have to do to receive a ballot paper or voting-machine keycard
is to write my name and address on a ballot application sheet and sign
it. A poll worker then checks the list of registered voters (now on an
electronic device; formerly a thick book from which my entry would be
torn out and marked with the number of the ballot issued to me) and if
I'm listed and haven't yet been issued a ballot, I receive it then.

I remember once being asked for an ID by apparently a fill-in poll
worker not properly trained, and a nearby supervisor heard it and
corrected him or her. I had already said I think showing an ID is not
required. Seems like item 1 on a training agenda!

On Tue, Dec 27, 2016 at 10:08 AM, ROGER STOKES
<roger.stokes65 at btinternet.com> wrote:
> I know that in the USA the move by some states to require in-person voters to show ID before being allowed to cast their ballot has caused controversyor it is to prevent voter fraud, which is negligible for in-person voting. Any fraud that occurs is more general with absentee voting. Now it appears that the UK government is to trial it as well in certain areas.
>
> The full list of pilot areas has not been released but the ones I have seen listed are ones which are significantly multi-ethnic. Given that it is absentee voting where any significant problem lies I agree that this proposal is a sledge-hammer to crack a (probably non-existent) nut.
>
> Roger
>
>



-- 
Scott R. Knitter
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA