UK's Johnson Calls Introduction of Voter ID System 'Important' Despite Criticism

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th July, 2021) It is important that the United Kingdom is considering the introduction of a voter ID system as part of measures to fight electoral fraud, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday.

At the moment, voters in the UK do not have to show any documents but can simply turn up at their polling station on election day and provide their name and full address. The so-called Elections Bill, presented to the Parliament on Monday, stipulates that voters will be required to show "an approved form of photographic identification" before receiving their ballot paper to vote at a polling station. The Conservative government's proposal has come under criticism from the Labour party, however.

"I think it is important that we move to some sort of voter ID and plenty of other countries have it, and I think it's eminently sensible," Johnson told parliament.

Critics, in the meantime, said that more than 3 million UK voters, believed to have no form of photo identification, such as a passport or driving license, could be disenfranchised under the bill. Ahead of the bill's introduction to the parliament, Shadow Minister for Young People and Democracy, Cat Smith, compared the changes to US Republican-style "voter suppression."

During the previous general elections in the island nation in 2019, just 34 allegations of voter fraud were reported.