Almost a quarter of people aren’t aware of changes to voting laws

Anti-extremism charity HOPE not hate say the changes to the way we vote could disenfranchise millions.

A new poll from HOPE not hate has revealed that 23.8% of voters, almost a quarter, aren’t aware of new photo identification rules when voting in a polling station.

HOPE not hate found that:

• 23.8% of voters did not know about the new rules - 10 million people across the UK. 

• 32% of BAME voters did not know about the new rules, compared to 22.4% of white voters.

• 25-34 year olds were the least likely age group to know about the new rules with 36% saying they were unaware. Only 13.2% of 65s were unaware of the new rules.

The new rules will apply to the local elections taking place on Thursday 4th May

Director of Campaigns, Georgie Laming said:

“It’s very concerning to find that almost a quarter of voters don’t know about the new photo ID rules coming into force in May. 

Voters from BAME backgrounds are 10% more likely to say they don’t know about the rules than white voters, and younger people are disproportionately more likely to be unaware as well. 

There needs to be targeted outreach to these groups to make sure that they don’t miss out on using their vote.”

Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union said:

“This new polling from HOPE not Hate is deeply concerning. It is clear that the new photo ID rules introduced by the Government could suppress the vote at this and future elections. The Government are responsible for bringing in these misguided changes. They now need to take responsibility for making sure that young people and voters from BAME backgrounds in particular are aware of the new rules so people don’t lose their right to vote”

The campaign group has launched an online map where users can enter their postcode and view the statistics in their local area. The tool lists what forms of ID you can use on polling day and encourages people to download and print off a poster to put up in community spaces reminding people to bring valid photo ID with them to the polling station on May 4th.

More information can be found at www.hopenothate.org.uk/keepyourvote 

Notes to editors: 

• HOPE not hate’s Keep Your Vote campaign is supported by the National Education Union. 

• All polling and MRP data analysis (excluding estimates of voting population data) has been collected from a nationally representative sample of  11,199 adults between 5 April and 12 April 2023 via Focaldata.  

• MRP (multi-level regression with poststratification) is a statistical technique for estimating public opinion in small geographic areas or sub-groups using national opinion surveys.

• MRP has two main elements. The first is to use a survey to build a multi-level regression model that predicts opinion (or any quantity of interest) from certain variables, usually demographics. The second is to weight (post stratify) your results by the relevant population frequency, to get population level (or constituency level) estimates.

• Number of people who don’t know about the changes calculated based on ONS 2020 population estimates.

Percentage of those responding no/don’t know to “Are you aware that from this year, you can only vote in elections if you show an approved piece of photo ID?” by:

Age

18-24:31.5%

25-34: 36.0%

35-44: 29.3%

45-54: 22.4%

55-64: 15.8%

65-100: 13.2%

Gender

Female: 23.0%

Male 24.7%

Ethnicity

BAME: 32%

Arab/Other: 33.3%

Asian: 32.3%

Black: 32.8%

Mixed race: 29.0%

White: 22.4%

General Election 2019

Voted Brexit Party 2019: 18%

Voted Conservative 2019: 17.3%

Voted Green 2019: 22.1%

Voted Labour 2019: 20.1%

Voted Liberal Democrat 2019: 18.7%

No vote or not registered 2019: 32%

Other 2019: 21.2%

EU Referendum

Voted Leave: 18.8%

Voted remain: 20.3%

No vote or note registered: 31.8%

Region

In the East Midlands, 22.8% of people said no/don’t know

In the East of England, 20.6% of people said no/don’t know

In the North East, 23.8% of people said no/don’t know

In the North West, 22.6% of people said no/don’t know

In the South East, 21.7% of people said no/don’t know

In the South West, 21.1% of people said no/don’t know

In the West Midlands, 22.9% of people said no/don’t know

In Yorkshire and the Humber, 21.8% of people said no/don’t know

In London, 33.2% of people said no/don’t know (note: no elections are taking place in May in 2023 in London)

Top 25 constituencies with local elections taking place with the highest percentage of those who don’t know about the changes