could spark a raft of legal challenges against new voter ID laws as well as candidates seeking to force a re-run of close races across England, campaigners and lawyers have warned., brought in by the Government to prevent voter fraud, are expected to lead to people being turned away from polling stations on Thursday.
Jess Garland, director of policy and research at the Electoral Reform Society, said: “If large numbers of voters find themselves unable to cast their ballot, feel they have been discriminated against and prevented from voting, it’s likely we’ll see legal challenges. “The reason why that might be a route is that all of the research up to now has shown quite a disparity of the proportion of people of different groups, holding photographic ID.”
In addition, a recent survey found 35 per cent of LGBTQ people said they would be unlikely to vote if they had to show ID in the polling booth. Trans and non-binary people have raised concerns that they do not have valid photographic identification that physically represents the person that they are, or their gender identity.