The Elections Act 2022 is an
Act of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
, introduced to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
in July 2021, and receiving Royal Assent on 28 April 2022. The Act introduces voter
photo identification
Photo identification or photo ID is an identity document that includes a photograph of the holder, usually only their face. The most commonly accepted forms of photo ID are those issued by government authorities, such as driver's licenses, ident ...
for in-person voting to Great Britain for the first time. It will give government new powers over the independent elections regulator; the
Electoral Commission
An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
has said it is "concerned" about its independence from political influence in the future.
According to academic research presented to the House of Commons, these changes may result in 1.1 million fewer voters at the next general election due to the photo ID requirement.
Key elements of the act were opposed by
parliamentary committees
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
, the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
, the Electoral Commission,
devolved governments, and academics.
Changes proposed by the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
were rejected by
Boris Johnson's government.
William Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire
William John Lawrence Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire, (born 12 March 1941 in Leicester), is a British academic, writer, and Liberal Democrat politician, who was a Lord in Waiting from 2010 to 2015.
Early life
Wallace was educated at West ...
, described it as a "nefarious piece of legislation" that is "shabby and illiberal".
Toby James, a professor of politics and public policy, has said "the inclusiveness of elections has been undermined by the act and it weakens the UK’s claim to be a beacon of democracy".
The Labour Party said the Conservatives are "trying to rig the rules of the game to help themselves".
Background
Other countries with
compulsory voter ID laws tend to also have compulsory
national identity card
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
s, whereas the United Kingdom does not (the Labour government's attempt to introduce them, on the legal basis of the
Identity Cards Act 2006
The Identity Cards Act 2006 (c. 15) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was repealed in 2011. It created national identity cards, a personal identification document and European Economic Area travel document, linked to a ...
, was abandoned by the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government and repealed in 2011).
The government's research suggests that 9% of voters do not have eligible identification. A lack of eligible identification is more common in individuals who are disabled, unemployed, or without educational qualifications.
There is little evidence of serious voter fraud in UK elections. Between 2015 and 2019, during which three general elections were held and 153 million in-person votes cast, only 88 allegations were made of voter fraud.
Between 2010 and 2018, there were just two convictions for voter fraud.
Photographic identification is mandatory to vote in elections in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
.
A voter ID trial was held for the
2018 United Kingdom local elections
Council elections in England were held on Thursday 3 May 2018. Elections were held in all 32 London boroughs, 34 metropolitan boroughs, 67 district and borough councils and 17 unitary authorities. There were also direct elections for the mayora ...
by the national
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
government. Voters in five local authorities in England (
Bromley
Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011.
Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...
, Gosport,
Swindon
Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...
,
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
and
Woking
Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...
) were required to show ID before voting. The legal basis for the trial has been contested.
Voter ID legislation was part of the
2021 Queen's Speech.
Provisions
Notable provisions of the act include:
* Requiring photo identification to vote in-person.
* Ability for government ministers to provide a "strategy and policy statement", containing government priorities for elections, to the Electoral Commission. Commissioners must have due regard for the statement and publish annual reports explaining what actions they have taken to implement it.
* Changes to the Electoral Commission, including placing it under the supervision of a government minister. It was previously independent of government and accountable directly to parliament.
* Changing mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections from a
supplementary vote system to a
first-past-the-post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
one.
* Removing the restriction on British citizens who have been
resident overseas for more than 15 consecutive years from voting in UK elections.
* Changes to voter eligibility of EU citizens. EU citizens living in the UK prior to 1 January 2021 will be allowed to vote in future UK local elections. EU citizens arriving in the UK after that date will only be allowed to vote if there is a reciprocal agreement for UK citizens resident in that country.
Other provisions include extending the current imprint rules onto digital election material, and tightening spending limits on third parties.
Criticism
The act was criticised for permitting as acceptable voter identification "an Older Person’s Bus Pass, an
Oyster 60+ Card, a
Freedom Pass
Freedom Pass is a concessionary travel scheme, which began in 1973, to provide free travel to residents of Greater London, England, who are aged 66 and over (the age of eligibility increased progressively from 60 in 2010 to 66 in 2020) or who ...
", while not allowing 18+ student Oyster cards,
national railcards, or student ID cards.
An amendment in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
to list these as accepted forms of voter identification was rejected by the Conservative government.
Critics have said the list discriminates against younger people, who more often vote Labour; in the
2019 United Kingdom general election
The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party receiving a Landslide victory, landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 4 ...
56% of voters aged 18–24 voted Labour whereas 67% of 70+ voters voted Conservative, according to polling by
YouGov
YouGov is a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. In 2007, it acquired US company Polimetrix, and sinc ...
.
The Labour Party has accused the government of trying to "choose voters".
A column in ''
The National'' said the real intention of the act is to make it harder for anti-Conservative demographics to vote.
Bob Kerslake
Robert Walter Kerslake, Baron Kerslake, (born 28 February 1955) is a British retired senior civil servant. He was the Head of the Home Civil Service, after the retirement of the former holder, the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell on 31 Dece ...
, former
Head of the Home Civil Service
His Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as His Majesty's Civil Service, the Home Civil Service, or colloquially as the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, whic ...
, has claimed the changes to mayoral and police elections are motivated by a perceived advantage the Conservatives have under first-past-the-post due to
vote splitting
Vote splitting is an electoral effect in which the distribution of votes among multiple similar candidates reduces the chance of winning for any of the similar candidates, and increases the chance of winning for a dissimilar candidate.
Vote spl ...
. Kerslake noted that of the past ten
metro mayors, only two have been Conservative.
The
Electoral Commissioners wrote to government ministers urging for the independence of the commission to be retained.
The letter said "it is our firm and shared view that
..enabling the government to guide the work of the commission is inconsistent with the role that an independent electoral commission plays in a healthy democracy".
It added that "the Statement has no precedent in the accountability arrangements of electoral commissions in other comparable democracies, such as Canada, Australia or New Zealand."
References
{{UK legislation
Election law in the United Kingdom
Election legislation
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2022
2022 in British law