Voter ID - Levelling-Up Committee Chair writes to Electoral Commission on voter turnout data concerns
26 April 2023
Clive Betts, Chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee has today written to John Pullinger, Chair of the Electoral Commission, to raise concerns about the accuracy of data due to be collected on voter turnout at the upcoming local elections on 4 May 2023.
The Chair’s letter refers to evidence taken as part of the Committee’s on-going inquiry into electoral registration and comments from Peter Stanyon, Chief Executive, of the Association of Electoral Administrators (on 17 April 2023) on recording data on the number of people who have been turned away for not presenting the necessary voter ID.
The correspondence calls for the Electoral Commission to confirm they will be collecting data on the number of individuals turned away outside of the polling station by meeter-greeters (in addition to voters turned away at the desk).
The Committee are aware that a significant number of local authorities plan to use meeter-and-greeters stationed outside polling stations to support the implementation of voter ID.
The Committee’s letter points to a media report (in The Guardian, 25 April) which states: “these greeters will not take a note of the number of people who leave when told about the requirements, the Electoral Commission has confirmed, meaning the total number of potentially disfranchised voters may never be known.”
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