Voter ID rules are racist – let’s get rid of them once and for all

Keir Starmer’s government will lay out its priorities in the King’s Speech tomorrow. At the Runnymede Trust we’re clear in a critical pledge that needs to be included: discriminatory voter ID laws must finally be scrapped once and for all.

Recently published research shows that, due to voter ID restrictions, more than 400,000 people were stopped from voting in the general election on 4 July. People of colour were reportedly 2.5 times more likely to be turned away than white voters.

• One of the biggest problems this election? Faith in politics and media is at rock bottom
• Would-be voters turned away from polling stations for not having ID: ‘This hurts our democracy’

Let’s put these numbers into perspective. This works out to roughly 600 voters per English, Welsh and Scottish constituency turned away because of ID problems. 20 MPs were elected with majorities of under 500. In other words, in constituencies with significant minority populations, these laws could have changed the outcome of the election. 

This is how these rules were intended to work. Former Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg even admitted that voter ID rules were an attempt to “gerrymander”. 

We at the Runnymede Trust have warned about the discriminatory nature of these laws for years. And last year, a cross-party inquiry by MPs, including former Conservative cabinet minister Sir Robert Buckland, concluded that thevoter ID scheme was a “poisoned cure” that “disenfranchises more voters than it protects”. 

Yet, despite these warnings, despite reports that seven in 10 voters turned away in the May elections appeared to not be white, despite the arbitrary nature of accepted forms of ID, the previous government pushed ahead with implementing these laws for the general election. The result? A staggering 400,000 silenced voices, a disproportionate number of them belonging to people of colour.

This is not just unfair; it’s discrimination by design. It’s a modern-day form of voter suppression, dressed up as a solution to a problem that the UK doesn’t have. Voter ID was introduced under the guise that it prevents voter fraud, yet in 2022, the year voter ID legislation was introduced, there were only two convictions for voter fraud. For over 400,000 lost votes, that doesn’t seem fair. 

Instead of spending £180m of taxpayers’ money every decade on this unnecessary and harmful policy, we should be widening access to democracy, by implementing automatic voter registration for instance; a system that ensures all eligible citizens can participate in democracy without unnecessary barriers. Many countries already do this – it’s time the UK caught up.

Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has an important opportunity to address this issue. Through a simple amendment to the Elections Act of 2022, we can scrap discriminatory voter ID rules. Our communities deserve their vote back. Our democracy demands it.

Alba Kapoor is head of policy at The Runnymede Trust, a leading racial justice organisation in the UK.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play.