More than 340 Wiltshire residents were turned away from voting in the General Election after forgetting to bring a valid form of ID.

The Electoral Commission has released data that shows how many people were turned away from July’s General Election for not having ID and how many never returned to the polling station.

In Wiltshire, 344 voters were turned away across Chippenham (56), East Wiltshire (77), Melksham and Devizes (76), South West Wiltshire (55), and Salisbury (80).

This was the first time that everyone across the UK was required to show an accepted form of photographic identification to be permitted a vote in a general election.

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The count in Trowbridge County Hall on July 4.The count in Trowbridge County Hall on July 4. (Image: Jessica Moriarty)The data reveals that a significant number of voters chose not to return to the polling station with correct identification after being turned away.

In fact, Chippenham had the fewest return, with only 66 per cent of people coming back to cast their votes.

Down in South West Wiltshire, 76 per cent of these voters returned.

The highest rates of return were in Salisbury (98 per cent), East Wiltshire (95 per cent), and Melksham and Devizes (76 per cent).

Comparatively, Swindon North and South had a total of 246 voters forget their ID, with 76 per cent returning in the north and 72 per cent returning in the south.

The UK-wide figures released by the Electoral Commission show that 0.25 per cent of people who tried to vote were initially turned away, but around two-thirds of those people returned later in the day with an accepted form of ID and were able to vote. 

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It also reveals that, in absolute numbers, around 16,000 people across Great Britain were unable to vote in person at the General Election due to the requirement to show ID at a polling station.

According to the Electoral Commission, some groups of people were significantly less likely to know about the requirement.

Awareness was lower among younger age groups (71 per cent for 18 to 24-year-olds) and people from ethnic minority communities (76 per cent).

The Elections Act 2022 introduced the need for voters to show an accepted form of photo ID to vote in person at a polling station for certain types of elections in Great Britain.

These changes to the electoral system were made through the Elections Act 2022, which made it compulsory to present ID at polling stations in an effort to strengthen the integrity of the electoral process.