No ID, no vote — no matter who you are.
Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was turned away from a polling station on Thursday after forgetting to bring proper identification to vote, British media are reporting.
Johnson, who in 2022 introduced a contentious requirement for voters to show photo ID while voting, ran afoul of his own rules while attempting to cast a vote in local elections taking place across England, Sky News reports.
Staff were forced to turn Johnson away, although the BBC reports that Johnson returned later with the proper paperwork and cast his vote.
The former Conservative Party leader was attempting to cast his ballot in South Oxfordshire, where a police and crime commissioner for the Thames Valley was being selected.
“The polls are now open. Vote Conservative today!” Johnson posted on X earlier in the day.
A spokesman for Johnson did not deny he had failed to bring ID, saying only: “Mr. Johnson voted Conservative,” Sky News reports.
As prime minister, Johnson’s government introduced the ID requirement to crack down on possible voter fraud.
Critics said it would potentially disenfranchise parts of the electorate and the while an Electoral Commission warned the new law could exclude those with disabilities and from minority ethnic backgrounds.
Passports, driving licenses, disability blue badges and certain local travel cards are accepted forms of voter ID. Previously, voters only needed to give their name and address to be able to vote.
Last year, in the first vote where the new rules were implemented, around 14,000 people in England were denied a vote in local elections after being unable to provide ID.
A poll by YouGov showed 14% of Britons were still unaware, in the days prior to Thursday’s elections, of the voter ID requirement.
Former President Trump has long called for voter ID requirements in U.S. elections in order to bolster election integrity and to combat what he claims are non-citizens voting in elections. He blames it as one of the reasons he lost the 2020 election to President Biden.
Speaker Mike Johnson rolled out an election integrity package at a press conference with Trump last month when the Speaker said that “potentially hundreds of thousands of votes” are cast by undocumented immigrants in U.S. elections.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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