FACs should count as photo ID for voters

The Elections Act 2022 requires people to show an accepted form of photographic ID to vote in person at polling stations. Voters first experienced the new rules during last year’s local elections in England. Then we had the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections in England and Wales in May, followed by the UK general election in July. The policy changes have been controversial, and misunderstandings have filled many column inches in the press. 

A number of people forgot to bring photo ID to vote, including a former prime minister. Some were challenged about their resemblance to the photo on their ID and others had issues with maiden/married surnames being different on photo IDs relative to the electoral register. 

Then there were people who could not vote because the photo ID they took to the polling station was not on the official accepted list for elections. The main controversy was around those who have served in the UK Armed Forces being unable to vote using their Ministry of Defence-issued veteran cards. 

In England, Wales and Scotland there are 20 acceptable forms of valid ID that can be used to cast your vote at a polling station. In Northern Ireland there is a different, shorter list. Both lists include passports, driving licences and various types of concessionary public transport photo ID cards. 

Across the UK most people have used passports and driving licences as photo ID in the local and general elections. However, sometimes people have circumstances in which they don’t have either a passport or driving licence nor any other of the photo IDs on the accepted lists. For some in the shooting community, the only photo ID they had during recent elections was a shotgun or firearms certificate and these police-issued documents are not on the accepted lists. 

The justification for introducing photo IDs for elections was to reduce a tiny risk of voting fraud. Yet more security checks arguably go into a shotgun or firearm certificate than a passport or driving licence. And there are more than 700,000 certificates on issue, which is significantly more people than those possessing some of the concessionary travel cards on the current accepted lists. 

With all this in mind, and based on feedback from concerned BASC members, I contacted the Electoral Commission in March. They said they had encouraged the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to explore whether a broader list of accepted photo IDs could be used at elections. 

Problems with photo IDs during elections have underlined the need for a review and earlier this month the Electoral Commission published a report outlining a series of recommendations for the Government to consider. That includes expanding the list of accepted photo IDs. 

A few weeks ago, Julie Minns, Labour MP for Carlisle, asked the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government if an estimate could be made of the number of people who were turned away from polling stations after attempting to use a shotgun certificate as voter ID at the general election. 

General election 

The Electoral Commission report does not give a breakdown on the types of photo IDs refused but does reveal that around 16,000 people across Great Britain were unable to vote in person at the general election due to the requirement to show ID at a polling station. 

I have been back in touch with the Electoral Commission and will follow up with the Department. The numbers might not be massive, but I believe it’s a matter of principle that if the list of accepted IDs is expanded, it should include shotgun and firearm certificates. 

Doing so will assist some members of our community in voting, and having shotgun and firearms certificates on the accepted photo ID list that is sent to every voter with their poll card ahead of every election helps normalise recreational shooting.