Voter ID UK: one in four young people unaware of new rules ahead of registration deadline tonight

One in four young people are unaware of new voter ID rules, as the registration deadline for the local elections looms.

People have until midnight tonight (16 April) to register to vote for the 2 May polls across England. Voters will also have to bring a specific form of ID with them.

A new poll from Best for Britain has found that five million people could be disenfranchised by the new rules, which particularly affect young people and ethnic minorities.

But what are the new Voter ID rules, and how do I register to vote? Here’s everything you need to know.

Deadline to register to vote in local elections

The deadline to register to vote in England’s local elections on 2 May is at midnight tonight (16 April). You can register to vote on the government’s website here. If you previously registered to vote at your address, you will be automatically re-registered and do not need to do anything. Most voters that were already registered should have received their polling cards by now.

A number of DJs, music artists and festival organisers have written an open letter to young people urging them to vote. This includes Glastonbury, Bicep and Annie Mac.

The letter says: “Dear music lovers, we see you. We hear you. We see you streaming our tracks, we hear you sharing them with your friends. We see you dancing at our gigs, we hear you singing along. We see you at protests, sharing on social media, supporting your communities - we know you care about this country and the people in it.

“But here's a melody that's gone unheard: over six million of you attended festivals last year and yet six million of you remained silent in the chorus of democracy and didn’t vote in the last election.

“So you know where we need to see you next? The polling station. The people in power listen to the voters. They listen to what the voters care about. When you don’t vote, the people in power don’t listen to us.”

Voter ID to disenfranchise millions, poll finds

New polling has found that millions of people could be prevented from voting due to lack of public awareness of new voter ID regulations. A huge Best for Britain MRP poll of more than 15,000 people, undertaken by Survation, found that 16% of respondents don’t know about new voter ID rules. This equates to around five million voters.

The data shows that in particular young people are unaware of the voter ID rules, with more than one in four 18 to 24-year-olds in the dark about the need to bring photo ID with them to the polling station. This compares with just 6% of over 65s.

A high level of confusion was also recorded among minority ethnic groups including one in four (26%) Asian/Asian British respondents, 23% of those who are Black/African/Caribbean/Black British and 22% of those who identified as mixed/multiple ethnic groups. NationalWorld previously reported that the government knew that disabled, LGBTQ+, and unemployed people could all be disproportionately disenfranchised by the introduction of voter ID, but pushed ahead with it anyway.

What are the Voter ID rules?

In April 2022 MPs passed a new law making voter ID mandatory. The move is highly controversial, with widespread concerns that many could find themselves disenfranchised because they do not own ID.

The introduction of voter ID is designed to prevent voter personation, the crime of impersonating someone else when voting. But the Electoral Reform Society says the crime is “vanishingly rare” – there were only three convictions and six cautions between 2015 and 2020, according to the Electoral Commission – and that photo ID is a “solution looking for a problem”.

Local elections in England will be impacted by the rule change, as well as national elections across the UK. That will mean for the local elections on 2 May voters will need to bring specific photo ID to vote. The ID does not need to be in date, but the photo will need to be a true likeness. It will be up to polling station clerks to judge whether your ID looks like you.

The full list is as follows:

• A passport issued by the UK, any Channel Island, Isle of Man, a British Overseas Territory, a European Economic Area (EEA) state or a Commonwealth country
• A driving licence issued by the UK, any Channel Island, Isle of Man, a British Overseas Territory, or a European Economic Area (EEA) state
• A disabled person’s bus pass
• An Oyster 60+ card
• A freedom pass
• A Scottish National Entitlement Card
• A 60 and over Welsh concessionary travel card
• A disabled person’s Welsh concessionary travel card
• A senior smartpass issued in Northern Ireland
• A registered blind smartpass or blind person’s smartpass issued in Northern Ireland
• A War disablement smart pass issued in Northern Ireland
• A 60+ smartpass issued in Northern Ireland
• A 60+ smartpass issued in Northern Ireland
• A half fare smartpass issued in Northern Ireland
• An identity card bearing the Proof of Age Standards Scheme hologram (a PASS card)
• A biometric immigration document 
• A Ministry of Defence form 90 (defence identity card)
• A national identity card issued by an EEA state
• An electoral identity card issued in Northern Ireland
• An anonymous elector’s document

How to apply for voter authority certificate

If you do not own any of the IDs that are on the approved list then you will be able to apply for a free voter authority certificate (VAC), which will be issued by your local council.

This will be accepted as your ID by polling staff. You can apply for a free VAC document online via the UK government website by following this link. You must first be registered to vote, and the name on your VAC should match the name that appears on the electoral roll.

You will need to supply your name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number if you have one, and a passport-style photo. You do not need to state your gender, and the VAC will not show this.

The deadline ahead of the local elections is 5pm on 24 April.

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.