The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will conclude its work this Parliament in March 2026 ahead of the next Scottish Parliament election. So the Committee has time to complete its work, it has agreed not to consider petitions submitted after 10 October.
The Committee will continue to meet but given the volume of petitions and agreed work programme it is unlikely that the Committee would be able to meaningfully progress work on petitions submitted after 10 October ahead of the election. Petitions lodged after this date will not fall when the Parliament is dissolved and will be for the successor committee to consider in the new session.
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Closed petition PE1921: The Scottish Government must confirm that it will not introduce voter ID in devolved elections
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to:
- confirm that it will not introduce voter ID in the devolved Holyrood and local elections in Scotland
- communicate that to Scottish voters.
Previous action taken
I have contacted all my MSPs asking them to oppose voter ID in Scotland. Some did not get back to me, some strongly supported voter ID, and one of the Labour MSPs met with us to discuss actions we could take and highlighted a petition would be a good idea.
Background information
We understand that many MSPs reject the UK Government's plans for mandatory photo ID for voters in General Elections held in Scotland.
Although the UK Government states that ID will curb threat of voter fraud, cases of voter fraud in the UK are minimal, with only two convictions of fraud since 2017.
I believe that voter ID in elections held in Scotland will harm Scottish democracy. The 3.5 million people in the UK do not possess any form of photo ID will be isolated from democracy and access to ID disproportionately impacts marginalised communities. BAME, transgender, disabled, older and homeless people, as well as first time voters, are all less likely to have accepted photo ID. The cost of a free voter identity card for those without ID will cost £180m over 10 years.
Voter ID is an expensive attack on voters and a threat to Scottish democracy.
This petition was considered by the Scottish Parliament
149 signatures