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A_Song_of_Two_Humans t1_iu5bqxr wrote

Fuck me, this country can be so fucking dumb at times. What a waste of money.

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Brian-Walkden t1_iu5v4ch wrote

I wonder which Tory donor owns a company that sells and fits mirrors….

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autotldr t1_iu5aqqt wrote

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 61%. (I'm a bot)

> The Government is making councils buy 40,000 mirrors to put inside polling stations in order to comply with its own laws requiring voters to show ID, i can reveal.

> It has now emerged that this will involve the purchase of a new mirror for every one of the 40,000 polling stations in the UK ahead of the local elections scheduled for next May. Minister Andrew Stephenson said in a response to a written parliamentary question: "We estimate that one mirror will need to be purchased for each polling station and assume that there are 40,000 polling stations based on the 2019 elections."

> "It's vital people's needs are addressed when attending a polling station, but it's not just the lack of mirrors and privacy booths that will deter voters but the unnecessary requirement to show photo ID instead.".

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: station^#1 vote^#2 mirror^#3 polling^#4 show^#5

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Daeve42 t1_iu68v89 wrote

I still don't get it - why a mirror? So you can ID yourself? I can't see anywhere in the article it explains why.

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peretona OP t1_iu69nta wrote

'Cos, according to the law, the Muslim ladies (and other religions that require a head covering - e.g. catholic nuns) have to take their hair covering off for the ID to be checked. So they then need to put them back on again. So they then need a mirror to be able to do it right.

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CompetitiveYou2034 t1_iu94yo7 wrote

When checking pictures on ID's, who looks at hair styles anyway? Women change their hair styles, length, color, etc. So a hair difference makes no difference!

Let people keep their hair covers on. Also, then you don't need mirrors.

Face coverings are different and crucial. Checking ID's we need to see the person's face.

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peretona OP t1_iu9wl5t wrote

It's a rightist thing with the (somewhat mistaken) believe that Muslims tend to be left wing. Looking at the face without hair covering is a legal requirement in this situation in order to discourage them from voting.

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Fit_Manufacturer4568 t1_iu5lk36 wrote

I need two forms of ID to vote to select my local Labour candidate. To avoid fraud and intimidation.

But Labour opposes people having to show ID to vote for the candidate in an election. They also claim voter fraud and intimidation doesn't exist.

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beetrootdip t1_iu7f5ti wrote

Not British. But ‘voting’ for your local candidate isn’t a legal vote. Same as if a group of friends are voting on what takeaway to have for dinner.

So, there’s no legal protections against voting twice.

Entirely different scenario calls for entirely different solution

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noclue72 t1_iu5aljn wrote

The voters showing I.D seems sensible to me. Religious face coverings could very easily be abused in this situation. And most minorities vote labour so it's no surprise certain mps are moaning about it, their voters have lost the ability to cheat.

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funk_monk t1_iu5ke9v wrote

Voter fraud does exist in the UK but it's really not a big deal.

In an ideal world there wouldn't be any fraud but you have to look at it from a pragmatic perspective of "how can we get the most representative result?", rather than "we need to completely eliminate election fraud".

The problem with voter ID is that there's high indication that requiring ID will bias the results more than voter impersonation did/does in the first place.

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peretona OP t1_iu5lzsm wrote

> The problem with voter ID is that there's high indication that requiring ID will bias the results

This is the exact aim though. The voter ID is very carefully designed so that most rich people (the kind that go abroad) already have it either as a passport, or in the few cases that don't travel, as a driving license. At the same time, if you don't have one of those it can be almost impossible to get because you have to travel to special centers that are far away and you have to provide documents that are very likely difficult for you to get.

It's something that you have to make a big effort to apply for. If this wasn't meant to bias the results the government would have made it automatic for most people to get sent an ID card if they don't already have one. I

−1

noclue72 t1_iu5o8j0 wrote

Dude a passport cost about £70 the last time I got one and is very useful in day to day life, not just travel. Not having one is stupid.

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funk_monk t1_iu5vspv wrote

There are multiple points to make here.

  1. The fact that you or I can afford £70 doesn't mean everyone can.
  2. Elections can be called at short notice. Getting ID on short notice is even more expensive (can confirm since I did exactly that last year).
  3. The proposed free workarounds are still more inconvenient for those on lower income.

None of this would be a problem if there wasn't a correlation between difficulty of obtaining ID and voting trends but unfortunately it's true.

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noclue72 t1_iu60hks wrote

People on benefits are going to Majorca n shit I know plenty that do, anyone can get a passport if they are eligible for one

−1

peretona OP t1_iu6a5ba wrote

>People on benefits are going to Majorca n shit I know plenty that do

That's the cowboy scammers that know how to work round the complicated means tests and stuff the conservatives introduced. They get much more than they deserve because the mess with the rules. Most of the honest people get less than they actually need because the money is spent on enforcement people and appeals processes and so on instead of just giving it to people who need it.

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ImaginationNaive4145 t1_iu5bdv5 wrote

Behave. Have you seen the fucking cabinet?

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noclue72 t1_iu5bwp2 wrote

They aren't the voters are they

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ImaginationNaive4145 t1_iu5fh2x wrote

I’m fairly sure they do vote. Unless it is actually a big charade when the rock up to vote, complete with entourage and TV crews.

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noclue72 t1_iu5i25e wrote

I'm clearly talking about the other 60 million people in the country

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peretona OP t1_iu5eyx1 wrote

> They aren't the voters are they

You're trying to suggest that the UK government cabinet spent so long abroad avoiding taxes that they lost the right to vote? You're accusing the current Conservative government of putting themselves above their country? Suppose you're right. Carry on.

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Ecksearoh t1_iu5saqi wrote

Wow! I just... wow.

They still make you? I honestly thought this model passed on when the queen did.

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PM-me-Gophers t1_iu6hwqo wrote

If we don't let anyone vote and the Tories continue to just pass the job aroubd there wouldn't be any chance of voter fraud at all! /s

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