Mind-blowing just how much money's been wasted on the Tories' latest attempt to import US-style gerrymandering. I wonder if it's more or less than Rwanda.
@obsurveyor I'm talking about importing a culture of voter suppression, there are a lot of different methods to choose from. We already have some of the boundary-changing shennanigans here, but they're not as distorting as some states in the US. We don't have the practice of shutting down polling stations in the "wrong" areas and causing multi-hour queues to discourage pople yet, and hopefully we never do, but \o/.
(If you're wondering what counts as ID: if you're over 60, almost anything, including tail cards. If you're a student, a passport or the drivers license most of them don't have, and a student rail card is inadmissible. It's absolutely shameless.)
@andrewwillmott I see the point of using a photo ID (that's the way it is in Finland anyway) - but having different rules for different people? That's not right.
@sol_hsa The thing is, the existing system works fine here, in fact better than most I would say. (NZ has a similar system and I was a polling worker for a few years back in the day.) A handful of disputed votes in a country of 66 million is a specious reason to change things, especially when it affects how easy it is to vote.
BTW, is it compulsory to vote in Finland like Australia? I think they have the right idea there.
@andrewwillmott It's not compulsory to vote here. But if they wanted to get everyone to vote, all they'd need to do is give a free bucket to everyone who does.
@pervognsen mostly it works as before, you turn up to your local polling station where they have a register. But now you have to bring photo ID, in a country that has no ID card system.
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