Brian McDonald
Polling station staff in Johnson’s South Oxfordshire constituency were forced to turn away the former Tory party boss as Johnson attempted to vote in the local elections, as first reported by the UK’s Sky News.
JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP
Johnson later returned with the ID needed to vote, according to Sky.
Johnson has not publicly commented on the incident. The last post on his X account, published as voting began on Thursday in a series of local and regional elections across the UK, read: “The polls are open. Vote Conservative today!”
Under the Electoral Act, legislation that was passed in 2022 under Johnson’s government, British voters are required to present acceptable photo ID at polling stations.
Critics of the law have said the legislation makes it more difficult for people to vote and will act as a form of voter suppression.
A spokesperson for Britain’s Electoral Commission said after the polls closed on Thursday night that “a number of new Electoral Act measures were in place at this election, including first-time voter identification in Wales and parts of England. The voting community has been working hard to prepare voters for these changes. The majority of voters who wanted to vote were able to do so.
“Our initial assessment of the elections is that they were well conducted and that millions of voters were able to exercise their democratic rights,” said the spokesperson.
