General Election 2024: Almost 29,000 voters in the Bristol region do not have the necessary document

Almost 29,000 residents of the Bristol region are registered to vote but do not have the required ID, denying them a voice in the general election. Exclusive data from Survation and Royal Holloway, University of London, estimates this affects four per cent of everyone on the electoral roll in the West of England.

Voter ID is now a requirement at polling stations – and anyone without it will be turned away when the nation decides its next government on Thursday, July 4. In some areas, the proportion of residents who do not have proper identification is staggering.

In Weston-super-Mare South borough, an estimated 23% of registered voters – almost one in four – do not have ID, affecting more than 1,400 people. The rate is just as high in St George Troopers Hill, in the Bristol East MP constituency, at just under 23%, around 1,050 people.

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In Hartcliffe & Withywood, in Bristol South, an estimated 14% of voters – 1,704 residents – do not have proper ID. The figures for Yate North in the Thornbury and Yate constituency are 12% – 1,111 voters – and in Hengrove & Whitchurch Park in Bristol South it is 10%, around 1,344 people.

Nationally, in England and Wales, nearly two million registered voters do not have ID. You can compare the figures for each ward in England and Wales using our interactive map. Get the map here:

Chris Hanretty, professor of politics at Royal Holloway, University of London, said: “The vast majority of registered voters have photo ID, but a small proportion do not, and this small proportion is getting larger in some areas.

“If only a few of these undocumented voters show up to vote, we can expect many stories of disenfranchised people.” New laws requiring voter IDs were introduced last year, with England’s local elections on 4 May 2023 being the first in the UK to require voters to show ID before being issued with a ballot paper.

Voters can use passports, driving licences, Proof of Age Standards Scheme (PASS) cards, blue badges and some concessionary travel cards. See the full list here.

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People who do not have an acceptable form of voter identification can apply online or by mail for a free voter authority certificate (VAC). The deadline to apply for a VAC to vote in next month’s general election is Wednesday 26 June at 5pm.

If you go to the polling station without the correct ID, you will be turned away – as Boris Johnson was in May after he forgot to bring his ID. Meanwhile, thousands of people who tried to vote at a polling station in May 2023 were unable to do so because of the voter ID requirement, and many non-voters said they did not participate in local elections because of the new rules.

In its September 2023 statutory report, the Electoral Commission found that some people found it more difficult than others to produce voter-accepted ID, including people with disabilities, younger voters, people from ethnic minority communities and the unemployed. The commission and others recommended that the list of allowed IDs be revised and consideration be given to making the voter ID rules more accessible to the most affected groups.

However, the Government rejected requests to add other types of ID to the list, saying that voter ID implementation had been “effectively carried out, with very few voters initially refused”. Last week, South Gloucestershire Council urged its residents to check their voter ID, as well as encouraging everyone to register to vote if they haven’t – the deadline for this is midday on Tuesday (June 18) the night.

The authority said: “It only takes five minutes to apply online here and registering will also mean you can vote in any other elections too. You can also check if you are already registered or update your registration through the website.

“If you’ve recently turned 18 or moved home, it’s especially important to act to make sure you’re registered to vote. If you were registered to vote in the last election and your details have not changed, you do not need to take any action.

“If you are in any doubt you can check with South Gloucestershire Council by calling 01454 863030.” Constituency residents who have questions about their voter ID or would like to request a paper form to request their voter authority certificate can call 01454 863030 or email [email protected]