Comment: Why I spent the day outside my polling station in Kenilworth to protest about voter ID

Tom Garner held an all-day solo protest against voter ID at the local elections in Kenilworth.

Votes are the glue of our democracy and the right to vote in particular dates back as far as the English Civil Wars. In 1647, a Parliamentarian colonel called Thomas Rainsborough passionately argued, “The poorest he that is in England has a life to live as the greatest he, and therefore… every man that is to live under a Government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that Government.”

This early call for English universal suffrage has echoed down the centuries from Peterloo to the Chartists and Suffragettes. However, last year’s Elections Act demanded that all voters produce photo ID for English elections. This sounds sensible but in reality the Act rigs democracy at the expense of certain demographic groups. For example, while older voters’ Freedom Passes are accepted, young persons’ railcards are not. There are also many people - of all ages - who possess no photo identification and are therefore at risk of being disenfranchised.

Personally, I want everyone to vote. As a professional historian, I was shocked to learn that voter ID has not been required in England since 1832. This was during the reign of King William IV! In those times, only a few privileged men could vote and they had to produce documents to prove that they owned property.

I do not want to see England regress to a pre-Victorian style of government. Therefore, on Thursday May 4, 2023, I held a peaceful protest outside my polling station in Kenilworth during the local elections. I protested during 7am-10pm - all of polling day - to oppose voter ID and only cast my own vote minutes before closing time.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went. I expected some opposition but in fact many voters agreed with my stance. One woman told me that a nurse relative of hers worked with many patients who had not got ID. Others were very supportive with one man saying, “Keep up the good fight my friend!”

Clearly, this is an issue that voters care about. I am aware that one man’s protest will not change the law but I hope that by raising the issue it can at least be debated. After all, that is what true democracy is all about.

By Tom Garner, features editor of History of War magazine.