Petitions to Parliament · 2019 to 2024 Parliament (archived)

Scrap the Voter ID requirement introduced in the Election Integrity Bill

102,430 people signed this petition to the UK Parliament after it opened on 31 March 2021; it closed on 30 September 2021. The Government responded on 25 May 2021.

The petition

The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.

Scrap the Voter ID requirement introduced in the Election Integrity Bill

Starting it the 2023 Local Elections, the government plans to force every UK voter to present ID upon voting. This is a grave breach of the democratic process and will make it harder for those on lower incomes and people of colour to vote, as these groups are less likely to possess an official ID.

There were 34 allegations of voter fraud in the 2019 election, and one case of proven fraud. Out of 48 million registered voters. There is no need for us to add an extra layer of bureaucracy and complexity to the voting process. Our elections are the only thing which allow us a true say in our government; voting should be the most open and inclusive process possible.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9272615/Voters-need-photo-ID-polling-stations-2023.html

The Government's response

The Government published its response on 25 May 2021; the petitions site lists the Cabinet Office as responsible. Its summary:

Voter identification is part of the Government’s body of work to strengthen the integrity and security of our elections. We will not remove voter identification requirements from the Elections Bill.

The opening 375 words of the 644-word response:

The Government was elected on a manifesto that committed to protecting the integrity of our democracy, by introducing identification to vote at polling stations. The Government has since announced that we will be bringing forward these measures as part of a wider initiative to tackle electoral fraud and give voters confidence in our elections.

Electoral fraud is a crime that strikes at a core principle of our democracy - that your vote is yours, and yours alone. Strengthening the integrity of our electoral system will give the public confidence that our elections will remain secure well into the future.

Showing identification to prove who you are is something people of all walks of life already do everyday. It is a reasonable and proportionate approach to extend this practice to voting and to give the public confidence that their vote is theirs, and theirs alone.

Everyone who is eligible to vote will continue to be able to do so. The list of approved photographic identification will not be limited to passports and driving licences. A broad range of documents will be accepted, including, for example, various concessionary travel passes, PASS cards, Ministry of Defence identity cards and photocard parking permits issued as part of the Blue Badge scheme.

In addition, expired photographic identification will be accepted as long as the photograph is of a good enough likeness to allow polling station staff to confirm the identity of the holder.

New research published by the Government shows that 98% of voters already own a photographic document that is on the list of acceptable types of identification under this policy. The figure was between 96%-99% across all age groups and regions and found that 99% of people from ethnic minorities owned an accepted form of identification. This research can be found at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9187/

Where a voter does not have one of the approved forms of photo identification, local authorities will be required, by law, to provide a Voter Card free of charge. An independent review of electoral fraud conducted by Lord Pickles highlighted the events of cases such as Tower Hamlets - in which the 2014 Mayoral election was declared void by corrupt and illegal practices - as evidence of vulnerabilities in our system which must be addressed.

Read the full response on the petitions site.

Where the signatures came from

Signatures came from 650 constituencies on the boundaries used until the 2024 general election. The largest number, 838, came from Bristol West.

101,206 of the signatures were from the UK and 1,224 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.

Debate in Parliament

MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on .

The Petitions Committee's summary of the debate:

The Petitions Committee have decided not to schedule a debate on this petition.

The Committee recognised the support that the petition had received. However, the issue raised by the petition has already recently been debated in Parliament on 13 July, which you can read here:

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-07-13/debates/10AA3BB2-B654-45DB-BEA1-3191EA315CC5/VoterID

The voter ID requirements are contained in the Elections Bill that was introduced by the Government on 5 July this year.

Read the Government's announcement of the Bill here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/elections-bill-introduced-in-parliament-today

MPs will be able to debate the voter ID requirement as part of the various stages of the Bill, and we'll make them aware of this petition ahead of debates on the Bill. We'll also send updates on the main stages of the Bill to people who signed this petition.

Find out more about the Elections Bill: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3020

Find out more about how laws are made: https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/

Source and receipt

• https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/576024.json
  UK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256 567c36f049f28e76…
• The petition on petition.parliament.uk

The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.