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Millions in UK face disenfranchisement under voter ID plans

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  1. Kuromantis
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    The last element is IMO the most important. If IDs aren't free, universal and mandatory (this one especially, which is the one I think they're pretending doesn't exist), this will be a major step...

    Millions of voters could be disenfranchised under “discriminatory” plans due to be unveiled on Monday that will force people to carry identification to cast a ballot, Labour has warned.

    Ahead of the introduction of the elections bill to parliament, the shadow democracy minister, Cat Smith, said the sweeping changes were tantamount to US Republican-style “voter suppression”.

    Critics say a national requirement for all voters to carry identification will cost the taxpayer about £40m over the next decade, and pointed to a Cabinet Office-commissioned study released in May that found more than 2 million voters could lack the necessary ID to take part in future elections.

    “It doesn’t matter how the government tries to dress it up, these plans will make it harder for working-class, older and black, Asian and minority ethnic Britons to vote,” Smith said. “They know this is the case because their own research shows that millions of our fellow citizens lack photo ID in this country.”

    The Cabinet Office said “everyone eligible to vote will be able to do so” and that voter cards would be issued free to those who needed it to prove their identity. It also highlighted plans to make it easier for British citizens who have moved abroad to vote in elections.

    The last element is IMO the most important. If IDs aren't free, universal and mandatory (this one especially, which is the one I think they're pretending doesn't exist), this will be a major step by the Tories to show themselves as an anti-democratic party, which will hopefully encourage everyone left-of-center in the UK to take the elections more seriously, and to more unilaterally oppose conservatism.

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