Council leader "appalled" at abuse of polling station staff over voter ID requirements

The leader of Sefton Council, Ian Maher, has reported that voters directed abuse at polling station staff in local elections last week over voter ID requirements.

In a statement, the Labour leader said he was "appalled" to hear staff had been subject to abuse and criticised the new rules, which he contended were "needless".

He said he was "sorry […] that staff have been put in the position where they have had to endure abuse from the public, in no small part because of the new rules."

"We knew from the introduction of Photo ID requirements that this change would not be well received by some of our communities but to hear that our hard working staff, who are simply helping people have their democratic say, have been subjected to horrid abuse is frankly shocking."

Cllr Maher's statement comes after the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Jo Cox Foundation issued a joint call for "respect and civility" to be shown towards candidates standing in and officers running the upcoming local elections ahead of the local elections last month.

At the time, the two organisations pled with voters to be "patient with hardworking local polling station staff as they implement the new [voter ID] changes".

The statement also followed concerns voiced by the LGA about the short time councils had to prepare for the new rules.

Parliament passed the Government's plans to introduce voter ID for the May 2023 elections in December 2022, following the passing of the Elections Act 2022 in April 2022, which gave the Government powers to implement the rules.

Last week, the Electoral Commission revealed that it will publish a full report on the May 2023 local elections, which will analyse the impact of the voter ID requirement after it noted that some people were "regrettably unable to vote".

Adam Carey