MPs have appealed for full information to be collected on the number of people turned away from local elections next week because they do not have the right ID.
They are worried that data may not be recorded by ‘meeter-and-greeters’ outside polling stations as well as officers inside.
It comes amid concerns over the low take-up of the official Government document available if someone does not have any of the approved ID which includes a driving licence or passport.
Clive Betts, chair of the levelling up, housing and communities committee has written to John Pullinger, chair of the Electoral Commission, over the MPs’ concerns.
The Electoral Commission was recently reported as saying that meeters and greeters will not take a note of the number of people who leave when told about the ID requirements.
The MPs fear this means the total number of potentially disfranchised voters may never be known.
Mr Betts calls on the Electoral Commission to confirm that the meeter-greeters will be collecting data on people without the correct ID as well as those turned away at the desk inside the station.
A spokesperson for the commission said ‘The presence of a greeter at a polling station is likely to affect the data recorded at the desk.
‘For this reason, local authorities will need to separate out data for polling stations with and without greeters when submitting data after the polls.’
