Hundreds of people in the Bristol region were turned away from the ballot box at the general election because they did not have the correct voter ID, official figures show. At least 246 people were refused the right to vote at the 11 parliamentary constituencies across the West of England, according to the Electoral Commission.
But only one of these MP seats, Bristol North East, had a larger proportion of voters who were blocked and did not return than the national average. All the other 10 recorded better figures for participation in July’s election than for the country in general, the analysis says. The full data for each local constituency is below.
Nationally, at least 16,000 people were ultimately refused a ballot paper because they did not present an appropriate form of ID – about one in every 1,200 in-person voters, or 0.08 per cent. Of the 50,000 in Great Britain who were initially turned away – 0.25 per cent of those who turned out on polling day – about two-thirds of these returned to cast their vote successfully.
The findings prompted calls by democracy campaigners to scrap the requirement for voter identification. The Electoral Reform Society said the report ‘makes for concerning reading for those who care about the health of our democracy’ because it laid bare the thousands of people who were effectively barred from having their say on the future of the UK.
The organisation said the 16,000 figure was ‘likely to be just the tip of the iceberg’ because it did not capture all those who stayed at home on the grounds that they did not have acceptable ID, while some voters would have been turned away by greeters before entering polling stations and so would not have been recorded in the data.
It said: “We have long argued since the idea of voter ID was first proposed that it is damaging and disproportionate considering how low the levels of fraud have been at UK elections. It’s a solution in search of a problem.
“At the heart of this issue is the fact that voting is a fundamental democratic right and even one person being prevented from casting a vote they’re entitled to is one too many. Our concern is that voter ID is a damaging barrier that is contributing to people not being able to cast their vote and becoming democratically left behind.
“At a minimum, the government should drastically expand the types of accepted ID people can use to vote. Ultimately, voter ID should be scrapped, and efforts should be now focused on removing barriers to voting, increasing turnout and improving participation in our democracy.”
The Electoral Commission, the independent body overseeing free and fair elections and political finance, issued several recommendations to the government as the result of its report that it believes will make it easier for those without ID to vote. It said public opinion polls that it commissioned from YouGov found that about four per cent of people who did not vote at the general election said their decision was related to the ID requirement.
The commission is asking for more documents to be included in the list of accepted ID, for ministers to consider whether the voter authority certificate could be issued digitally to get more people to apply, and for the UK to follow the example of Canada by having other people ‘vouch’ for the eligible status of those without ID. Compared with the national average of 0.25 per cent of all voters who were initially turned away from polling stations and the 0.08 per cent in total who did not return to vote, the region’s constituencies fared well.
Bristol North East returned the worst figures for disenfranchisement, with 110 people – 0.3 per cent – not having the right ID to begin with, of whom 40 failed to return (0.12 per cent), both figures higher than most other constituencies.
Here are the other figures:
Bristol East
Number of voters initially turned away: 124
Proportion of polling station voters initially turned away: 0.3 per cent
Number of voters who returned after being turned away: 105
Proportion of voters who returned: 85 per cent
Number of voters turned away who did not return to vote: 19
Proportion of voters who were turned away and did not return: 0.05 per cent
Bristol Central
Number of voters initially turned away: 78
Proportion of polling station voters initially turned away: 0.2 per cent
Number of voters who returned after being turned away: 58
Proportion of voters who returned: 74 per cent
Number of voters turned away who did not return to vote: 20
Proportion of voters who were turned away and did not return: 0.06 per cent
Bristol North West
Number of voters initially turned away: 75
Proportion of polling station voters initially turned away: 0.2 per cent
Number of voters who returned after being turned away: 53
Proportion of voters who returned: 71 per cent
Number of voters turned away who did not return to vote: 22
Proportion of voters who were turned away and did not return: 0.06 per cent
Bristol South
Number of voters initially turned away: 52
Proportion of polling station voters initially turned away: 0.1 per cent
Number of voters who returned after being turned away: 35
Proportion of voters who returned: 67 per cent
Number of voters turned away who did not return to vote: 17
Proportion of voters who were turned away and did not return: 0.05 per cent
Filton & Bradley Stoke
Number of voters initially turned away: 87
Proportion of polling station voters initially turned away: 0.2 per cent
Number of voters who returned after being turned away: 61
Proportion of voters who returned: 70 per cent
Number of voters turned away who did not return to vote: 26
Proportion of voters who were turned away and did not return: 0.07 per cent
Thornbury & Yate
Number of voters initially turned away: 59
Proportion of polling station voters initially turned away: 0.2 per cent
Number of voters who returned after being turned away: 48
Proportion of voters who returned: 81 per cent
Number of voters turned away who did not return to vote: 11
Proportion of voters who were turned away and did not return: 0.03 per cent
North Somerset
Number of voters initially turned away: 77
Proportion of polling station voters initially turned away: 0.1 per cent
Number of voters who returned after being turned away: 50
Proportion of voters who returned: 65 per cent
Number of voters turned away who did not return to vote: 27
Proportion of voters who were turned away and did not return: 0.05 per cent
Weston-super-Mare
Number of voters initially turned away: 86
Proportion of polling station voters initially turned away: 0.1 per cent
Number of voters who returned after being turned away: 51
Proportion of voters who returned: 59 per cent
Number of voters turned away who did not return to vote: 35
Proportion of voters who were turned away and did not return: 0.06 per cent
Constituency: North East Somerset & Hanham
Number of voters initially turned away: 35
Proportion of polling station voters initially turned away: 0.1 per cent
Number of voters who returned after being turned away: 25
Proportion of voters who returned: 71 per cent
Number of voters turned away who did not return to vote: 10
Proportion of voters who were turned away and did not return: 0.03 per cent
Bath
Number of voters initially turned away: 54
Proportion of polling station voters initially turned away: 0.2 per cent
Number of voters who returned after being turned away: 35
Proportion of voters who returned: 65 per cent
Number of voters turned away who did not return to vote: 19
Proportion of voters who were turned away and did not return: 0.05 per cent
