Elections: Proof of Identity
(asked on 21st December 2022) - View Source
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there will be publicly available statistics showing how many people have applied for an ID on the Voter ID website.
Answered by
Baroness Scott of Bybrook
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is working closely with the Electoral Commission and local authorities to introduce voter identification at elections from May 2023.
The Electoral Commission is a body independent of the Government and is accountable to the UK Parliament. Funding of its duties including public awareness raising campaigns is a matter for the Speaker's Committee of the House of Commons.
The Voter Authority Certificate Application Service will go live on 16 January 2023 and updates on applications will be provided in due course.
Data will be collected by Returning Officers, including on incidences of electors not providing acceptable voter identification in polling stations, to inform the Electoral Commission and DLUHC evaluations of polls in May and the two future UK Parliamentary General Elections.
The department has an extensive change network including local authorities, Valuation Joint Boards, and electoral organisations which is supporting the implementation of voter identification in May 2023 and beyond.