Voter fraud
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The term voter fraud is usually referring to voter impersonation where a person attempts to vote under another person’s name or in multiple locations. Recorded instances of this in Western democracies are incredibly low. This is hyped as a reason to institute voter ID restrictions. This places a burden on the voter to have a valid government ID. In the UK it cost £25 to acquire a driving license. Though this may seem like a small cost to many to the most vulnerable in society this can be huge burden and massive barrier to having their vote recorded.
This is used in America along with Gerrymandering to give political parties an edge in elections. Proponents of voter ID laws claim to be protecting democracy, but it appears they are suppressing voters’ ability to access their democratic rights. These practices are starting to be used in the UK and 6 constituencies had ID restrictions in the 2017 election. There is very little evidence of voter impersonation happening at all here either. The Electoral Commission provides a breakdown of all the electoral crimes recorded and over half of them relate to campaign financing.
Lack of voter engagement is a much bigger issue than voter fraud. Turnout in the last European elections in the UK was 35%, and turnout across the EU was only 43%. Help change that today and don’t forget to vote.