UK voter ID recommendation came in 2016 report on 2015 Tower Hamlets election fraud. Report suggested fraud may be overlooked due to “over-sensitivities about ethnicity and religion”-BBC

BBC: “The recommendation [for UK voter ID] came in a 2016 report from former Communities Secretary Sir Eric Pickles (now Lord Pickles), which followed the Tower Hamlets election fraud in 2015. The report suggested fraud may be overlooked because of “over-sensitivities about ethnicity and religion”.”…Northern Ireland has had voter ID law since 2003: “When voting at a polling station in Northern Ireland you are required to present acceptable photographic identification.”…Norway requires photo ID to vote…Germany requires ID card or passport....France requires proof of identity to vote, documentation such as National Identity card, Passport, Member of Parliament’s identity card (valid) with photograph, issued by the president of a parliamentary assembly….Switzerland requires ID card or passport “and the voting papers you received by post.”...Mexico has had voter ID for more than two decades. “There is one thing the cards do not do: inspire more confidence in candidates. Ana Martínez says that despite getting her new card, she probably won’t use it to vote. “There’s no candidate worth voting for.””

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“The recommendation [for UK voter ID] came in a 2016 report from former Communities Secretary Sir Eric Pickles (now Lord Pickles), which followed the Tower Hamlets election fraud in 2015. The report suggested fraud may be overlooked because of “over-sensitivities about ethnicity and religion”.”…”Voting: Could ID checks affect who participates in elections?“ BBC, 5/11/21

May 9, 2021, “Queen’s speech: voters will need photo ID for general elections,” UK Guardian, Jim Waterson

[Image: 2019, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles attend State Opening of Parliament by Queen Elizabeth II, in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster, October 14, 2019, getty]

“Government’s legislative agenda is unlikely to include long-awaited reforms to adult social care.”

“Britons will have to show photo ID to vote in future general elections, ministers are poised to confirm this week, as a means of tackling fraud….

The proposal is to be included in Tuesday’s Queen’s speech, which will set out the government’s post-pandemic priorities and the laws it intends to pass in the forthcoming parliamentary session.

However, the dozens of announcements are unlikely to include details of long-awaited reforms to funding for adult social care, a 2019 Conservative manifesto promise which has been parked pending cross-party discussions….

A quarter of voters-often younger voters-do not have either a passport or driving licence, critics say.

The government has previously said people would be able to apply for a voting ID card from their local council, although this would have to be done before polling day….

The voting reforms, which will also include a limit on the number of postal votes that can be handed in on behalf of others, are being justified by ministers as a way to reduce the risk of electoral fraud….

The changes would affect UK-wide and English elections, while voters in Northern Ireland are already required to show identification before voting.

While ministers are pressing ahead with electoral reforms, they have found it harder to draw up a plan to reform the social care system.

The Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove told Times Radio that a proposal will be “heading for the statute books” by the end of the year but is unlikely to form part of this week’s Queen’s speech. “We’re working to make sure that we have an effective social care plan at the moment,” he said. “That work is going on. So, by the end of the year you will have a specific social care plan that is heading for the statute books at the very least.”

He said a major issue was building cross-party support for reforms, given the political issues around the funding of adult social care to look after people with additional needs or older individuals with conditions such as dementia. The Conservatives are still scarred by memories of their 2017 general election campaign imploding after a proposal to require property owners to sell their own home to fund long-term care-thereby eating into their descendants’ inheritance-was dubbed the “dementia tax”.

Last week the Daily Telegraph claimed that the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, was concerned about the multibillion-pound cost of reforming social care, prompting the government to delay bringing forward firm proposals. The newspaper reported that one proposal, which would cap the maximum contribution at £35,000, would largely benefit wealthy homeowners in south-east England….

The Queen’s speech will take part in reduced circumstances this year with the level of pageantry toned down due to social distancing.”

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Added: Mexico enacted voting ID more than two decades ago:

1/25/2012, “Mexico’s national voter IDs part of culture," USA Today, David Agren

“Office worker Ana Martínez lined up at 7 a.m. on a recent Sunday to renew her voter credential, a document required at a polling station to vote.

But voting was not the main reason she was getting it. The free photo ID issued by the Federal Electoral Institute had become the accepted way to prove one’s identity-and is a one-card way to open a bank account, board an airplane and buy beer.

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Voting was almost an afterthought to Martínez.

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“They ask for it everywhere,” she said. “It’s very difficult to live without it.” 

 

National IDs for voting, or proving citizenship, is an idea that is being floated in the United States to crack down on voter fraud, illegal immigration and foreign terrorists….

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Mexico has not seen many problems with its card, and national identity cards have been issued for years in France, Poland, Singapore, Brazil, to prove citizenship.

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Boosts country’s democracy

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Mexican officials unveiled the voting ID two decades ago to properly identify electors in a country with a history of voters casting multiple ballots and curious vote counts resulting in charges of fraud-most notoriously in 1988 when a computer crash wiped out early results favoring the opposition.

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The credential proved so good at guaranteeing the identification of electors that it became the country’s preferred credential, one now possessed by just about every adult Mexican. Its widespread acceptance deepened democracy, too, by giving credibility to the Federal Electoral Institute, analysts say. The agency was created as an independent agency to oversee federal elections.

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“It’s a very important prop for support of that institution,” said Federico Estévez, political science professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico. “What people really know about (the electoral institute) is the card.”

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The card must be renewed every 10 years. This meant thousands of Mexicans whose cards were expiring had to apply for a new one prior to Jan. 15 if they wanted to vote in the July 1 presidential election, prompting long lines outside agency service centers.

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People in the lines were clutching folders of documents needed for renewal: a birth certificate, another form of photo identification and a recent utility bill.

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Unlike Mexico, whose voting rules are set by the federal government, the United States leaves many voting requirements up to individual states….

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Some U.S. states, including Texas and South Carolina, approved laws last year requiring voters to show a government photo identification prior to voting. The U.S. Justice Department rejected the law, saying it discriminates against minorities. 

 

South Carolina’s attorney general’s office said there is no evidence that has ever happened in other states that require voter IDs. Citing the cards’ necessity to safeguard the integrity of elections, the state argued in a lawsuit against Justice that of an estimated 239,233 registered voters with no appropriate photo ID, 37,000 were deceased and 91,000 no longer lived in South Carolina.

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The debate also has national security implications. Improved identifications were recommended by the 9/11 Commission given that the hijackers had driver’s licenses or state non-driver’s identification cards that they used to rent apartments, open bank accounts and board planes. Social Security numbers are often used as proof of eligibility to work, but illegal immigrants often use stolen numbers.

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Carries tough rules

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Mexico’s voter ID has some key elements that make them acceptable to the public, say officials here. They cost nothing to obtain and the issuing agency operates hundreds of service centers nationwide, making requests relatively easy.

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Though some U.S. states allow people to vote without IDs, Mexico makes no exceptions for individuals lacking the proper documents. The Federal Electoral Institute also refused to extend the registration period or grant an amnesty for those applying late, leaving more than a million people ineligible to vote.

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“It is a matter that has to do with a culture of respect for the law," Francisco Guerrero, one of the nine commissioners on the institute, told the newspaper Reforma.

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The agency makes no apologies for the tough rules or requiring photo identifications, given Mexico’s history of troubled elections. “We started from such a point of distrust, especially in the electoral system,” institute commissioner María Marván said.

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“In order to strengthen democracy, we have to start believing in our own institutions. That’s a big challenge in Mexico.”

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The card does not guarantee fraud-free elctions, however. During 71 years of uninterrupted Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) rule, which ended in 2000, electoral crooks known as Mapaches, or raccoons, went about stuffing and stealing ballot boxes. Stories also abound of PRI operatives plying poor voters with sandwiches and soft drinks and then escorting the recently fed to the polling stations….

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Although the national photo ID was introduced to stop voter fraud, it has achieved much more, bolstering the credibility of elections and helping the poor, some say. The IDs resolved a problem for many poor people “who previously had no way of being able to identify themselves," said Miguel Ángel Carlos, security committee coordinator at the Association of Mexican Banks.

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There is one thing the cards do not do: inspire more confidence in candidates. Ana Martínez says that despite getting her new card, she probably won’t use it to vote. “There’s no candidate worth voting for.””

 

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