Please can you answer the following freedom of information request:
BACKGROUND INFO:
According to a recent Guardian article:
"While clerks inside polling stations will take a formal register of those lacking ID, some venues will use “greeters” outside to remind people about the need for ID before they go in. They will not record the numbers who then leave because they do not have ID and do not return to vote."
Furthermore, according to the Electoral Commission:
Greeters are official members of polling station staff and are the responsibility of the Returning Officer. They can be used to welcome voters, remind them about the need to show ID, and help speed up the voting process.
When submitting data from polling stations, local authorities will need to tell us how many of their polling stations had at least one greeter – they do not need to report how many they had. We don’t issue specific guidance for them, but they are mentioned in our polling station handbook.
The official data on the proportion of people who were turned away, and those that later returned to the polling station with accepted ID, could only be collected by those at the ballot issuing desk, and not by greeters at the entrance. The presence of a greeter at a polling station is likely to affect the data recorded at the desk. For this reason, local authorities will need to separate out the data they will report to us into polling stations with and without greeters when submitting figures after the polls.
While we know that some potential voters will have been turned away by greeters, others will have been deterred earlier in their journey or earlier on polling day, and despite the very best efforts would remain beyond the reach of any practical data collection exercise. So, alongside the information collected from polling stations, we will also be doing public opinion surveying across England, to understand the experience of voters.
MY REQUEST:
1 - Please can you confirm if this council used "greeters" at the entrance to voting stations during the recent May 2023 elections?
2 - Did you record the number of people turned away from voting stations by "greeters" during the May 2023 elections?
3 - Please provide ALL datasets you hold regarding the number, use and impact of "Greeters" at polling stations during the recent local elections held in May 2023
4 - Please provide ALL datasets you hold regarding the use of voter ID and the impact of voter ID at the recent local elections held in May 2023