Thread by @QuakerDissent

Today the #ElectionsBill is in the Commons. Here’s a quick thread on what you can do TODAY.

The Bill is being debated this afternoon. It’s the Report Stage, which means that the detailed scrutiny has already happened.

Read and pass on!

You can email your MP using writetothem.com. Just put in your postcode and it will find the correct MP. You have a couple of hours before the debate starts. Ask them to attend and vote.

Problem 1: Voter ID. The #ElectionsBill introduces mandatory voter ID. Those without the correct ID won’t be able to vote.

The argument is that this stops people from stealing votes — from someone coming in, pretending to be someone else, and using their vote. However, the amount of fraud which takes place in person is minuscule.

There are four or five cases of voter impersonation every general election, and these are often so flimsy they don’t get to court. That’s five out of an electorate of over 47 million people.

On the other hand, there are thousands and thousands of people who don’t have the right ID. Who can’t afford to get it, or have just sent it away because they moved house, or even have just lost it.

I’ve monitored elections for the Electoral Commission. There are forms to fill in if a vote is missing — say the wrong ballot paper has been given out. There are things which happen already. Introducing Voter ID will not solve the issue.

The right to vote is a right for every citizen. Not just those citizens who can pay for a passport or driving license.

Tell your MP to oppose voter ID.

Problem 2: the Electoral Commission. The #ElectionsBill would make it so that the priorities of the Electoral Commission were set by Ministers.

This may not seem like a big thing, but it really is. Because the Electoral Commission answers to Parliament, not Government.

There’s a key difference. The Electoral Commission is not a quango — a “quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation”. It’s a tango. It’s totally autonomous. It has to be, because it is regulating elections — which is how Ministers get to be Ministers.

The Electoral Commission answers to the Speaker of Parliament, who is supposedly above all party considerations. Ministers may think they are doing things for the good of the country, but they are doing that by enacting their manifestos.

Governments are run by political parties. The only way to keep the Electoral Commission out of an infinite loop of back-scratching is to have it answer to Parliament-as-the-institution. And that is precisely what this Bill drags us away from.

In essence, this Bill takes the regulator and sets what it should regulate. Any Govt could now ask for political opponents to be investigated but not their own party. It leaves the door wide open to corruption and gerrymandering.

So, email your MP (in the next hour or so) and express your concerns about the Electoral Commission. Say you want them to remain independent of Ministers.