Former UK PM Boris Johnson turned away from polling station after forgetting ID
Source: ABC News/AP
May 3, 2024, 6:35 AM
LONDON -- Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was turned away from a polling station after forgetting to bring ID to vote in the U.K.'s local elections.
British media reported Friday that Johnson who introduced the requirement for voters to provide ID with a photo when he was in office was told by polling station staff in South Oxfordshire Thursday that he would not be able to vote without proving his identity.
Sky News reported that Johnson, who served as Conservative prime minister from 2019 to 2022, was later able to cast his ballot and that he voted Conservative.
Johnson introduced the Elections Act requiring photo ID in 2022, and the new law was first implemented last year in local elections. But Thursday was the first time large numbers of voters across England and Wales have had to present ID, such as a passport or driving license, to vote.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/former-uk-prime-minister-boris-johnson-turned-polling-109897510
Attilatheblond
(2,282 posts)SunSeeker
(51,866 posts)manicdem
(397 posts)Feels like it was staged on purpose to get media attention.
Martin68
(23,003 posts)Martin68
(23,003 posts)Don't you know who I am?!
Borderer
(51 posts)1) Boris is not stupid, he just fakes the bumbling persona because he finds it useful to do so. He admits this freely.
2) The new UK voter ID requirements are controversial because they are a completely unnecessary piece of bureaucracy which Boris' administration copied from the US Republicans for exactly the same corrupt purpose of disproportionately suppressing the votes of poor/young/minority electors. Having a high profile Tory pretend to be "caught out" by the new requirements was simply a way of forestalling criticism when the number of voters turned away from the polls as a result of the new requirements becomes known.
3) How did the press get to know about this incident? If they were actually inside the poling station that would have been pre-arranged with Boris' handlers and the local election authorities, and if they were not there they must have learned about it from Boris' people revealing it to them.
A totally staged event IMHO.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,394 posts)Think he'd get a ticket?