Democracy Volunteers observed the electoral process in all of the new Welsh Senedd constituencies, 61 Scottish Parliamentary constituencies as well as every London Borough and numerous other councils across England. In total, the number of observers, experts and support staff was over 200 at this election.
These observers generally formed teams of two, sometimes three, and attended 1,165 polling stations, across these constituencies and local authority areas.
Democracy Volunteers’ observers spent between 30 and 45 minutes at each polling venue observing the voting process and then completed an online survey, regarding the integrity of the electoral process, for each polling station.
The team of observers observed a total of 22,070 voters, in the process of those observations.
In the 2026 elections we focused on one specific area of observation in England, namely the continuing use of the requirement to show ID in polling stations. Across all three jurisdictions, we observed continuing issues concerning the maintenance of the secret ballot and disability access.
Our expert team also assessed the early voting and central hub polling processes in three of the councils that ran pilots in Cambridge, Tunbridge Wells and Milton Keynes.
The report states: Across 184 English polling stations our teams observed a total of 273 voters turned away from voting because they did not have ID to vote. This was of a total of 13,179 voters observed in England. This constituted 2.07% of all voters, a higher percentage than in the 2024 General Election (1.29%) or the 2025 Local Elections in England (1.97%). 98 of those turned away did attend the polling station with another individual, constituting 35.9%.
Commenting, Director of Democracy Volunteers, Dr John Ault said, ‘our data indicates that Voter ID, which was only in use in England for this elections, continues to have some problems. Whilst many people are able to return with their ID later, it still either acts as a hurdle to some people’s ability to vote or an inconvenience for those who have forgotten it. There is considerable evidence from our observation this year that suggests that ‘attestation’ could be a way to solve a substantial number of the problems faced.’
