Following the recent announcement that West Devon residents will require photographic ID to vote in the upcoming election,  Maureen Cunningham of Lydford supplied the following letter:

"Voters in this year’s West Devon local elections will have to bring photo ID to get into the polling station. 

"It’s a new rule that’s been rushed in by the government, but not enough people know about it. 

"But the problem of impersonation at the ballot box is rare. According to the Electoral Reform Society, when they ran pilots of voter ID, many more people were denied their right to vote than have been convicted of this kind of fraud. In 2019, out of tens of millions of votes cast, there were only two convictions or cautions. 

"I’d certainly complain if I turned up to find my vote had been taken. But now the government are going to take more people’s votes than were ever lost this way.

"There is no evidence to support the need for voter ID and the risks far outweigh the scale of the problem. It makes you wonder why they are really doing it. 

"I think the whole scheme should be cancelled before it is too late."