Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Head of Elections submission of 19 January 2022
PE1921/A – The Scottish Government must confirm that it will not introduce voter ID in devolved elections
Thank you for your email of 20 December 2021 on behalf of the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee seeking the Scottish Government’s views on the following petition:
“The Scottish Government must confirm that it will not introduce voter ID in devolved elections.”
Many thanks for the extension to your original deadline of 17 January 2022 for a response to 25 January due to the impact of the Christmas break.
The practical effect of the proposal in the petition would be to require the Scottish Government to give an undertaking that it will not introduce a requirement for voters at devolved elections to provide photographic identity before they would be able to cast their vote at a polling station.
The Scottish Government has no plans to replicate the plans set out in the UK Government’s Elections Bill (“the Bill”) which was introduced into the House of Commons on 5 July 2021 and is making its way through the Westminster Parliament. The Bill and supporting documents can be found at: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3020.
One of the provisions in the Bill would require voters to show an approved form of photographic identification before collecting their ballot paper to vote at UK Parliamentary General Elections in Great Britain, local elections in England, and Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England and Wales. Documents including passports, driving licences, concessionary travel passes and photocard parking permits issued as part of the Blue Badge scheme would be accepted. Any voter who does not have an approved form of identification would be able to apply for a local Voter Card from their local authority. The UK Government has noted that in Northern Ireland voters have been required to produce personal identification before voting in polling stations since 1985, with photographic identification being required since 2002.
Although this measure is wholly reserved, and will not apply in relation to devolved elections, various stakeholders, politicians and commentators, have expressed concern about the impact of this provision on voters and electoral administrators in Scotland in relation to UK Parliament elections. There appears to be considerable scope for confusion in the event of a UK poll occurring on the same day as a Scottish poll (e.g. where a by-election for one Parliament occurred on the same day as a general election to the other Parliament). In such a case ID would only be required for one of the contests, which is likely to confuse voters and will place an additional responsibility on the Presiding Officer at each polling station to police the ID requirement.
The Scottish Government considers that there is no evidence of significant electoral fraud to justify voter ID measures in Scotland Parliament and Scottish local government elections. This was explained in its Legislative Consent Memorandum in relation to the UK Elections Bill (at paragraphs 6 to 8). The Memorandum is available at https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/legislation/bills/lcms/elections-bill/splcms068.pdf.
The Minister for Parliamentary Business, Mr George Adam, MSP set out the Scottish Government’s position when giving evidence to the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee on the UK Elections Bill on 25 November 2021:
“We fundamentally disagree with the UK Government on the issue. I do not think that the Scottish Government has been quiet about its position that it does not believe that voter ID is the way forward. As (the Committee) … has heard from me today, it has been shouted from the rooftops that we fundamentally disagree with voter ID.”
The Committee may also wish to be aware that the Standards, Procedures and
Public Appointments Committee published its 4th Report, 2021 on the Legislative Consent Memorandum on the Elections Bill on 22 December 2021.