Almost all Islanders brought a valid ID to a polling station when they went to vote in the General Election on 4th July. The poll was the first Parliamentary Election since the introduction of photo-ID rules. In Isle of Wight East:
- 38 people were turned away for not having a valid photo ID
- 16 of those people turned away subsequently returned with acceptable ID.
In Isle of Wight West:
- 35 people were turned away for not having a valid ID
- 21 of those people turned away subsequently returned with acceptable ID.
Across the Island
- An average of just one person per polling station across the Island did not initially bring a valid ID
- Only one in every thousand people who came to a polling station were unable to vote because they did not hold a valid ID – in other words, 99.9% of electors brought photo ID that met the voter ID requirements of the Elections Act 2022.
Isle of Wight Council’s Returning Officer, Claire Shand, said:
“We would like to thank the local media for helping get the message across about photo IDs, as well as information about registering to vote and how to apply for a postal vote. We also used the council’s own social media platforms and the combination of messages helped keep the numbers who couldn’t vote due to lack of ID down to a minimum.” “However, we are less than 10 months away from an election for every seat on Isle of Wight Council and we would urge anyone who was unable to vote due to lack of photo ID that they can apply to us for a free photo ID that will be accepted at polling station in future elections.”
Information about acceptable IDs and how to apply for the free voter ID can be found on the council’s voter ID web page: Photographic Voter ID (iow.gov.uk)
This makes me laugh. I didn’t vote. I didn’t want to be on the electoral register, but I feel i was forced to or face prosecution. How is this democratic. I will never vote again.
You have the choice whether to vote and, if you do, who to vote for.
That’s democracy.
(Given what you’ve written, maybe it’s for the best that you don’t vote, as you seem to lack some basic knowledge and understanding of the system)
You can’t be prosecuted for not being on the electoral register.
I didn’t bother voting, they are tell lies.
Look at Labour, got people’s votes then they shafted them by
taking away the Winter Fuel Allowance for the pensioners.
All Politicians only care about themselves
These figures are more likely down to so few of the older generation being bothered to vote due to them being so disaffected and disillusioned with politics today. Nobody represents or cares about the older generation so why should they waste their time voting for people who will do nothing to help them. Case in point, look at how Liebour are now hammering the elderly.
Yet the highest turnout was in the over 60s.
I don’t get it, Island Echo comments are full of comments being very anti benefits. Labour stops a benefit for those that don’t need it, and you claim they’re hammering the elderly. What do you want them to do? Keep giving the most affluent age group in the UK a benefit they don’t need? If you’re on Pension Credit, you still get to keep it.
Yep.
Constant bleating about benefit scroungers getting money they don’t deserve while “driving BMWs and holding the latest iPhones”.
Yet they get all hurt when people living rent-free and driving brand new SUVs get £300 free cash taken off them.
Pathetic.
Single people on the new state pension get more than the threshold for pension credit.
So it’s only people on the old basic state pension that will qualify for pension credit and the winter fuel allowance.
I resent to current trend for likening pensioners, who have worked all their life to fund retirement and saved in both the government (tax and NI) and private pension funds, to other benefit claimants who have never done a day’s work and never intend to. We paid in, we are entitled to our pensions. However, the whole pension system does need review and a long term strategy for funding. The ‘free market forces’ conservative mantra has led to a total mess. The working generation complain about funding our pensions but they are not. They are funding their own future pensions. At least, that’s how it is supposed to work. I don’t need the winter fuel payment at the moment, but I do fear this is the start of a campaign to steal from pensioners.
Resent away.
You have had your entire life to make something of yourself. If you get to 68 and depend on state handouts that would suggest you failed and only have yourself to blame.
Oh, and you are 100% wrong. Pensions are paid out of current tax and NI contributions, and always have been. When you were working you were paying for the pensions of the then current pensioners. That is how it has always worked.
Again, the fact that you didn’t know this is your problem.
Strangely aggressive reply. I concede that the reality is the current working generation are, in practice, paying for for current pensions but by the same token, I paid for my predecessors pensions and others will pay for yours in due course. It’s still a case of pay in while you can, take out when it’s your turn. Calling that a ‘state handout’ is wrong. There are those who can’t work and those that choose not to. I still think it’s wrong to class pensioners, who have done their bit, the same as those who choose not to work and contribute. I don’t rely on state handouts, but over the years private pension funds have been trashed several times by government policies. I will make sure I can support myself, one way or another.
If you think that pensioners are the most affluent age group in the country, you are beyond stupid.
The UK would rather give benefits to migrants than their
own citizens, some of them have even fought for our country.
That is 2024 Britain, it is going down the drain Baby!