Compulsory Voter Identification, Disenfranchisement and Human Rights: Electoral Reform in Great Britain

Ben Stanford

Compulsory Voter Identification, Disenfranchisement and Human Rights: Electoral Reform in Great Britain

Ben Stanford

School of Law

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

This article examines the human rights implications of the British Government’s proposals to reform the electoral process in Great Britain, with a particular focus upon the Conservative Party’s 2017 manifesto pledge to introduce compulsory identification requirements in UK elections. Moreover, this article addresses the issue of voter identification laws in light of the recent announcement that voters in a pilot study will be required to produce some form of identification before voting in the May 2018 English local elections. Bearing in mind the experiences of compulsory voter identification laws in other countries, most notably the United States of America, and the requirements of Article 3 of the First Protocol to the ECHR, this article argues that the British Government must not impose requirements that may risk disenfranchising a large proportion of the electorate.

Original language	English
Number of pages	15
Journal	European human rights law review
Volume	23
Issue number	1
Publication status	Published - 6 Feb 2018

Bibliographical note

Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright
owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study,
without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.

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1 Web publication/site

The results of the 2018 voter ID pilots and why this is not the time for a national roll-out
Stanford, B., 31 Jul 2018
Research output: Practice-Based and Non-textual Research › Web publication/site

Open Access

Cite this

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title = "Compulsory Voter Identification, Disenfranchisement and Human Rights: Electoral Reform in Great Britain",

abstract = "This article examines the human rights implications of the British Government{\textquoteright}s proposals to reform the electoral process in Great Britain, with a particular focus upon the Conservative Party{\textquoteright}s 2017 manifesto pledge to introduce compulsory identification requirements in UK elections. Moreover, this article addresses the issue of voter identification laws in light of the recent announcement that voters in a pilot study will be required to produce some form of identification before voting in the May 2018 English local elections. Bearing in mind the experiences of compulsory voter identification laws in other countries, most notably the United States of America, and the requirements of Article 3 of the First Protocol to the ECHR, this article argues that the British Government must not impose requirements that may risk disenfranchising a large proportion of the electorate.",

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N2 - This article examines the human rights implications of the British Government’s proposals to reform the electoral process in Great Britain, with a particular focus upon the Conservative Party’s 2017 manifesto pledge to introduce compulsory identification requirements in UK elections. Moreover, this article addresses the issue of voter identification laws in light of the recent announcement that voters in a pilot study will be required to produce some form of identification before voting in the May 2018 English local elections. Bearing in mind the experiences of compulsory voter identification laws in other countries, most notably the United States of America, and the requirements of Article 3 of the First Protocol to the ECHR, this article argues that the British Government must not impose requirements that may risk disenfranchising a large proportion of the electorate.

AB - This article examines the human rights implications of the British Government’s proposals to reform the electoral process in Great Britain, with a particular focus upon the Conservative Party’s 2017 manifesto pledge to introduce compulsory identification requirements in UK elections. Moreover, this article addresses the issue of voter identification laws in light of the recent announcement that voters in a pilot study will be required to produce some form of identification before voting in the May 2018 English local elections. Bearing in mind the experiences of compulsory voter identification laws in other countries, most notably the United States of America, and the requirements of Article 3 of the First Protocol to the ECHR, this article argues that the British Government must not impose requirements that may risk disenfranchising a large proportion of the electorate.

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JO - European human rights law review

JF - European human rights law review

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ER -

Compulsory Voter Identification, Disenfranchisement and Human Rights: Electoral Reform in Great Britain

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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Research output

The results of the 2018 voter ID pilots and why this is not the time for a national roll-out

Cite this