The thing about this ‘voter ID’ idea is that it has a whole raft of impacts, all of which are pretty appealing to a certain kind of people. (short thread)
Firstly, it has a potentially suppressive effect on particular groups of voters - who are unlikely to vote Tory. Younger people, ethnic minorities, poorer people, people afraid of the authorities.
Secondly, it helps support the idea that those people - ethnic minorities in particular - are inherently untrustworthy, cheats or worse.
Thirdly, it helps distract from the *real* areas of concern - most directly the data-based electoral manipulation, dark money etc.
Fourthly, it lays the groundwork for bringing back the idea of a comprehensive ID card system, backed by biometrics and a fully linked database, ideal for controlling the populace.
Fifthly, it paves the way for electronic voting systems - actually much *less* secure and more easily manipulated than paper voting, but superficially more ‘secure’.
All this makes the whole thing *very* attractive to those in favour of authoritarian right wing government. So no surprise it’s being pushed now... /end rant
