[Politics] Is a Photo ID requirement for Voting a Good Idea?

[zefarelly]

Perhaps artists impression ID would be more popular.

done by children under 6 Like on ITV news

 

[halbpro]

When I first voted in my late teens I was astonished how easy it was. It is an honour to vote and you really should have to show your ID. The opportunity for individuals to vote more than once is massive. I’m not saying it has ever swayed an election but how would we know?

You use ID for far less important things than voting it seems very odd that we don’t already have this.

Finally if you don’t ID are you really part of our society? Are you paying taxes? Are you? I think if you don’t have ID 9 times out 10 you don’t deserve to have the vote I am afraid.

Obviously there's free ID being provided for this, but I think you go too far saying those without ID aren't part of society. There are plenty of people who don't drive and don't travel abroad, so don't have a driving license or passport. Hell, I have ID and don't remember the last time I had to actually show it to anyone.

 

[BBassic]

I'm surprised that anyone wouldn't want to move out of the middle ages and accept the necessity of being able to be identified....unless you have something to hide, of course, like being the spitting image of your passport photo

Much like the right to protest, our privacy is something we notice more when it’s taken away. Throughout history, seemingly innocent information about people has been used to persecute them during moments of crisis. You may trust your current government to look for criminals and not do anything dishonest with your data. But what if it changed and shifted dramatically to the left or the right? In these situations, authorities could gather data to find and crackdown on groups they disagree with. They could use the information to target journalists, persecute activists and discriminate against minorities.

7 reasons why ‘I’ve got nothing to hide’ is the wrong response to mass surveillance

When we launched #UnfollowMe , our campaign to end governments’ use of mass surveillance, the Amnesty Facebook and Twitter feeds were swamped. A lot of people told us: “If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear”. The reasoning goes that if you’ve done nothing wrong, it doesn’t...

www.amnesty.org

 

[nicko31]

if they want voter ID for voting then just bring ID cards in.

Voter fraud is almost non existent, but the Tories know they’re in trouble. So let’s suppress the votes of groups that don’t vote for us, gerrymander the boundaries, take over the electoral commission, the list goes on.

Maybe it’s time for a noisy protest, maybe not ..

 

[nicko31]

if they want voter ID for voting then just bring ID cards in.

Voter fraud is almost non existent, but the Tories know they’re in trouble. So let’s suppress the votes of groups that don’t vote for us, gerrymander the boundaries, take over the electoral commission, the list goes on.

Maybe it’s time for a noisy protest, maybe not ..

 

[Bodian]

Why? There's not been a single recorded case of anyone in this house wrongfully accessing the treat tin.

He could just be gathering the evidence - just catching you once wouldn't be enough to convict. When he presents the court with videos of dozens of raids......

 

[Bodian]

Finally if you don’t ID are you really part of our society? Are you paying taxes? Are you? I think if you don’t have ID 9 times out 10 you don’t deserve to have the vote I am afraid.

I haven't got a passport, have no idea where my driving licence is - and can't think of any other photo ID I have ever had since the student railcard in c1994. However, I have a decent job, and pay my taxes!

 

[Rookie]

Finally if you don’t ID are you really part of our society? Are you paying taxes? Are you? I think if you don’t have ID 9 times out 10 you don’t deserve to have the vote I am afraid.

Shocking statement.
Don’t deserve to vote and seemingly not a part of society because you don’t hold a form of photo ID. If you don’t go abroad and don’t drive does that mean you are not a part of society?

 

[Westdene Seagull]

I'm surprised that anyone wouldn't want to move out of the middle ages and accept the necessity of being able to be identified....unless you have something to hide, of course, like being the spitting image of your passport photo

I really despair at the "if you have nothing to hide" argument which incidentally was used by many to support ID cards - it's as bizarre as the argument that "other countries use it without issue".

I don't wish to hand over the in's and out's of my life to the government ( or more likely one of their pet contractors such as Capita ) unless absolutely necessary - with both ID cards and Voter ID there has been zero case presented that they are required to resolve a huge issue - particularly an issue worth spending so much money to 'resolve'.

You might be very comfortable with handing over your personal data to the government of the day and tha they won't misuse your data. But do you hold the same confidence in the next government ? Or the on after that ? Or the one five times after that ? All of which are governments you can't predict. It is nice that you trusted the Truss government so much though .... and Pritti Patel.

If people have nothing to hide then lets collect everybody's DNA at birth, hell, let's microchip everyone so they can be tracked 24 hours a day. In fact let's give the police the right to search any house they like at any time without a warrant or any checks and balances - after all if you have nothing to hide !

 

[Westdene Seagull]

When I first voted in my late teens I was astonished how easy it was. It is an honour to vote and you really should have to show your ID. The opportunity for individuals to vote more than once is massive. I’m not saying it has ever swayed an election but how would we know?

You use ID for far less important things than voting it seems very odd that we don’t already have this.

Finally if you don’t ID are you really part of our society? Are you paying taxes? Are you? I think if you don’t have ID 9 times out 10 you don’t deserve to have the vote I am afraid.

Given you're a keen supporter of a government rapidly removing the right to protest I think we probably need to dismiss your views on ID as far right wing Tory Party claptrap.

 

[Pevenseagull]

Where are your papers?

 

[beorhthelm]

I really despair at the "if you have nothing to hide" argument which incidentally was used by many to support ID cards - it's as bizarre as the argument that "other countries use it without issue".

I don't wish to hand over the in's and out's of my life to the government ( or more likely one of their pet contractors such as Capita ) unless absolutely necessary - with both ID cards and Voter ID there has been zero case presented that they are required to resolve a huge issue - particularly an issue worth spending so much money to 'resolve'.

You might be very comfortable with handing over your personal data to the government of the day and tha they won't misuse your data. But do you hold the same confidence in the next government ? Or the on after that ? Or the one five times after that ? All of which are governments you can't predict. It is nice that you trusted the Truss government so much though .... and Pritti Patel.

If people have nothing to hide then lets collect everybody's DNA at birth, hell, let's microchip everyone so they can be tracked 24 hours a day. In fact let's give the police the right to search any house they like at any time without a warrant or any checks and balances - after all if you have nothing to hide !

to be devils advocate: between various arms of government, they know where we live, how much we earn and pay tax, our pensions funds, our entire medical history, any benefits, entry in and out of the country (apparently not recorded but they can), any cars we own and anywhere we drive (theory, not joined up in practice). an ID card would provide nothing more, link a face to a name and address. it could be used to show citizenship and entitlement to goverment services, should you think thats important (a lot of important recent issues might have been solved by this). an ID card and much less voter ID really wouldnt change anything much in our relation with the state - you are still required to provide ID if police ask, most government services need some form of ID, we just dont have it in a single format.

its Home Office obsession with ID that we have voter ID. about every Home Secretary since Straw have pushed it, cant be coincidence. they tried a different tack with Patel and got through voter ID. expect it to change to a full ID by the end of the decade, whoever is in power, because the Home Office aren't going anywhere.

 

[Pevenseagull]

Imagine being so very soft of brain that you thought the risk of someone voting twice was worse than than the threat of voting for a bunch of lies.

f*** punctuation.


Why are you hitting him?

He forgot his ID.

 

[Zeberdi]

Much like the right to protest, our privacy is something we notice more when it’s taken away. Throughout history, seemingly innocent information about people has been used to persecute them during moments of crisis. You may trust your current government to look for criminals and not do anything dishonest with your data. But what if it changed and shifted dramatically to the left or the right? In these situations, authorities could gather data to find and crackdown on groups they disagree with. They could use the information to target journalists, persecute activists and discriminate against minorities.

7 reasons why ‘I’ve got nothing to hide’ is the wrong response to mass surveillance

When we launched #UnfollowMe , our campaign to end governments’ use of mass surveillance, the Amnesty Facebook and Twitter feeds were swamped. A lot of people told us: “If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear”. The reasoning goes that if you’ve done nothing wrong, it doesn’t...

www.amnesty.org

This primarily ^^

- but it is true, as @beorhthelm said above, governments are accumulating vast amounts of information on their citizens already but that imo is not a justification to accumulate more - and for anyone not to think governments keeping vast shared databases of information about their citizens is a civil liberty issue has no real concept of how that information could be used against us however, and whenever the government of the day deems it necessary to do so.

What Data Is the Government Keeping About You?

Governments are amassing a wealth of data on citizens, a trend that will continue as technology advances. But with no reliable way to ensure that the data is accurate, risks abound. In the criminal justice system, for example, poor quality data could affect individual freedoms and employability.

www.rand.org

It’s also not the same as requiring a photo ID to drive a car or travel abroad imo, but concerns the right to participate in free elections the founding principle of representative governance.

Given the cost to personal freedom, the financial cost of introducing a photoID voting system, for me there needs to be very good evidence not just of voter fraud but enough voter fraud to significantly alter the outcome of elections for that would be the only justification imo for making voting harder and the process more complex than it already is.

(I’ve checked, apparently wont be required for postal votes though - yet)

Voter ID: What does the new plan mean for voters?

The plan to have voters provide voter ID for future general elections has proven controversial. Here’s everything you need to know

www.bigissue.com

 

[Cotton Socks]

At face value (without reading the details, or the thread) it's a shit idea if it potentially costs voters money. My mum's passport has expired (which may not be a bad thing) but eldest jnr's has expired as well.

 

[Cotton Socks]

When I first voted in my late teens I was astonished how easy it was. It is an honour to vote and you really should have to show your ID. The opportunity for individuals to vote more than once is massive. I’m not saying it has ever swayed an election but how would we know?

You use ID for far less important things than voting it seems very odd that we don’t already have this.

Finally if you don’t ID are you really part of our society? Are you paying taxes? Are you? I think if you don’t have ID 9 times out 10 you don’t deserve to have the vote I am afraid.

Well I bloody hope I'm a part of society!!! I don't have a passport as I don't go on holiday and I'm not allowed to drive for medical reasons!! I'm not old enough for a bus pass either. If it's going to cost me money to vote then I won't vote, as much as I'd love to (I haven't read the details) because my utility bills are so high that it would be stupid to 'waste' that money that everyone else who can afford ID are going to disagree with. Bit like the ticket situation atm, you can't get any on the exchange unless you're an Albion+ member, what's the point in paying for an Albion+ membership if you don't know whether you're going to have enough cash until the day? I am proper pissed off about the ticket situation after going to all shitty FA cup draws since the Amex opened. If they're going to charge to get ID (I haven't read the thread) then I just can't afford it so I won't be able to vote. I can't afford Albion+ membership & now since we've become 'good' every tosser seems to want to go to matches so much that some aren't even going to general sale on the exchange meaning I won't be able to go to an 'ad hoc' match like I used to.
I take great bloody exception to you saying that I'm not part of society because I don't have ID though, the ticket thing was just a tangent I went off on!

 

[GT49er]

I haven't got a passport, have no idea where my driving licence is - and can't think of any other photo ID I have ever had since the student railcard in c1994. However, I have a decent job, and pay my taxes!

Exactly. Like thousands of others who don't have a photo driving licence or a passport. Already this considerable hard working group of tax payers is being discriminated agaist by commercial organisations ad restricted in what they can do - like selling a car to a dealer or scrapping it, cashing in an insurance policy - even in some cases I understand being excluded from attendng football matches.
The last thing we need is the government legitinising all this by making identity cards compulsory (which is what driving kicences and passports are fast eecoming). Nobody should be able to demand to see either of those documets except for the specific purpose for which they are issued.

 

[GT49er]

When I first voted in my late teens I was astonished how easy it was. It is an honour to vote and you really should have to show your ID. The opportunity for individuals to vote more than once is massive. I’m not saying it has ever swayed an election but how would we know?

You use ID for far less important things than voting it seems very odd that we don’t already have this.

Finally if you don’t ID are you really part of our society? Are you paying taxes? Are you? I think if you don’t have ID 9 times out 10 you don’t deserve to have the vote I am afraid.

Patronising ****.

(and don't go pulling rank as a mod)

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Don't you need photo ID over there to get into an 18+ venue?

 

[Cotton Socks]

Don't you need photo ID over there to get into an 18+ venue?

Not if you're clearly over 25! I think there's a check if 'look under 25' policy. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be asked for ID to check I'm over 25! More likely to be refused entry to a club as I'm to old!