He left his ID card at home, which is why former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was not allowed to vote in the British parliamentary elections. writes The Guardian. It was he who introduced the fact that it will not be possible to vote without a personal ID card in 2022.
The Electoral Commission has previously warned people that the law could prevent hundreds of thousands of people from voting, which could have a disproportionate impact on the results.
A source close to Johnson confirmed that the former prime minister forgot to take his ID card with him, but he voted later. A spokesman for the politician said: “Johnson voted for the Conservative Party.”
The VA has previously apologized to ex-servicemen who cannot use their Veterans ID card to vote in local elections in England. In response, Downing Street announced that it would investigate whether it was necessary to change the rules so that veterans' ID cards were included in the list of valid identity documents.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Downing Street had no concerns about voter ID cards. “We don’t want anyone to be expelled from the polls, we want everyone to be able to vote. According to the experience of recent local government elections, 99.75 percent of people were able to cast their votes successfully.”
By the way, ministers face a lot of criticism due to the limited number of accepted identity documents, especially since they allow documents such as bus tickets for the elderly, but for young people there is no such option, and the student card is not a suitable form of identity document for them either.
The Election Commission had already warned last year that it would be difficult to assess the consequences of requiring a photo ID before voting. According to the Committee, the laws may have a disproportionate impact on the poor, people with disabilities and people belonging to minorities.