People who can’t vote because they don’t have ID won’t have details fully recorded

The Government has instructed the Electoral Commission to provide only limited reasons why voters without approved proof of identity are turned away from polling stations at next week’s local elections.

The data collection rules mean a raft of reasons for people not being permitted to vote will not be made public in official figures, including Muslim women who refuse to remove a veil on religious grounds, trans people whose photo ID may not be considered to look like them, and clinically vulnerable people who refuse to remove a face mask due to concerns over Covid-19.

Those not included in the figures will also include people presenting an unapproved young person’s travel card, a student ID card, and people with a different surname on their ID because they have recently got married.

The council elections in England will be the first time new laws on voter ID are implemented, with many groups concerned that certain groups will be excluded from voting due to the strict rules.

While the Government has refused to confirm whether voters without ID will be fully recorded, i can reveal limits have been put on what reasons for excluded people from the ballot box will be noted by election officials.

Polling station officials will only collect data on people refused a ballot because they are unable to provide an accepted form of ID, if someone’s photo ID is not considered a good likeness, or if a presiding officer believes the photo ID is a forgery.

The figures may also be skewed because people who are turned away but later return to the polling station with an accepted form of ID will still be included in the figures of those refused a ballot.

The official data collected by the Electoral Commission will also include just those who are refused a vote once at the ballot issuing desk inside a polling station.

This means people who are turned away by “greeters” outside a polling station and those who forget or did not know they needed ID will not be included in the figures showing how many people are refused a ballot next Thursday.

On Thursday, junior levelling up minister Rachel Maclean was accused by MPs of refusing to answer basic questions on how the collection of data at polling stations would work.

After being asked by several opposition MPs for clarity on the issue, Ms Maclean accused them of making “shrill and hyperbolic claims” about voter suppression, and “hysterical scaremongering activity”.

The limited data collected during the elections has angered a number of groups representing sections of society and democracy campaigners.

The Muslim Council of Britain told i it was “extremely concerned” that the new ID requirements “will prove a deterrent, further reducing turnout from within Muslim communities across England”.

A spokeswoman for the organisation said: “There are several concerns around the introduction of voter ID, all of which are especially acute when considering minority communities that may already be underrepresented within our political system.

“One such concern, for example, is existing provisions for any Muslim women who may wear the niqab that may allow them to readily cast their vote in person.”

The Electoral Reform Society added that voter ID rules in the UK were going to be more strictly enforced than in some states in the US.

In many US states voters without the correct documents are still permitted to vote and then return to a polling station with an accepted form of ID.

Jess Garland, director of policy and research at the Electoral Reform Society said: “With these new rules in force UK now has a more restrictive voter ID regime than many US states. Anyone who turns up at the polling station next week without the correct ID will be turned away.

“Far from improving our elections, in pressing ahead with these new rules ministers have created chaos and confusion around our electoral process that will see legitimate voters suffer.”

A spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission told i: “In the week following polling day, we will be collecting data from local councils. This will inform an initial analysis of the implementation of voter ID, which we will publish as quickly as possible in the weeks after the elections, subject to data being available.”