The requirement to bring photo ID to vote may have prevented hundreds of thousands of people from voting in the General Election, new polling has suggested.
A survey conducted by More In Common found that 3.2 per cent of people reported being turned away at least once because they didn't have the correct ID.
The survey, which spoke to 2,047 people, suggests that 850,000 people were turned away when extrapolated across the UK.
More than half of those said they either gave up or returned and were still unable to vote – an estimated 425,000 people.
The requirement to bring photo ID to vote may have prevented hundreds of thousands of people from voting in the General Election, new polling has suggested
PA
This was the first general election that has required voters to bring ID in order to cast their votes.
The voter ID regulations have been in place since May 2023.
A third of the people who were turned away had ID that was not on the list of valid ID.
A quarter of them said the name on their ID was different from that listed on the electoral register.
And 12 per cent said they were told the picture on their ID did not match their appearance closely enough.
Turnout at this year's general election was just under 60 per cent - the lowest turnout for more than 20 years.
The survey, commissioned by Hope not Hate, also indicated that the new ID requirements had a disproportionate impact on ethnic minorities.
It suggested that they were more than twice as likely to be turned away from polling stations than white voters.
David Weaver, the chairman of Operation Black Vote, told the Telegraph: "It comes as no surprise that BME communities are disproportionately affected by voter ID requirements.
“At Operation Black Vote, we’ve been engaging with African, Asian and Caribbean communities across the country and repeatedly hear how the system has continually failed them.
“These systematic barriers underscore a democracy that too often works against us rather than for us, highlighting the urgent need for large-scale constitutional reform.”
Hope Not Hate campaign director Georgie Laming said it “must be the last” national vote with the ID rules.
She added: "This was a generation-defining election and yet hundreds of thousands of voters were shut out from voting because of confusing and unnecessary voter ID laws."
