More than 1% of voters, half of whom appear to be from minority ethnic backgrounds, are turned away at polling stations because of ID requirements in local elections, according to a democracy watchdog group.
Democracy Volunteers, a group of election observers, said it conducted snapshot surveys in 118 councils on 4 May.
The group said that observers saw 1.2% of those attending polling stations turned away because they lacked the relevant ID, or were judged not to have it.
Of those who turned away, 53% were identified by observers as “non-white”. The group said its teams have seen others allowed to vote even without ID.
The group, which sent 150 observers, said its staff usually formed groups of two or three, and attended 879 polling stations in all regions of England.
It says that these observers spent between 30 and 45 minutes in each location observing the process and then completed a survey for each polling station.
Earlier, the authorities admitted that it was not possible to accurately count how many voters who lacked ID were turned away on 4 May. Charities and other groups say more vulnerable groups of voters, including the elderly, transgender voters and those with disabilities, are likely to lack valid ID.
Tom Brake, of Unlock Democracy, a campaign group for greater democratic participation, said: “This data confirms our prediction that as well as damaging our democracy, these unnecessary voter ID rules can also be discriminatory , which has a particularly severe impact on ethnic minority voters.
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“The whole concept is wrong in principle and the implementation is a catalog of chaos. Local authorities have not been given time or money to prepare properly to raise awareness and train staff. There is no plan to comprehensively gather solid data about the number of people who refuse to cast a ballot, a task that is much more difficult when using so-called greeters outside polling stations. And now we have an element in evidence of racial discrimination.”
Democracy Volunteers also said it found “family voting continues to be a challenge” at polling stations. Family voting is when members of the same group enter a booth together and have the opportunity to cooperate or have one person in charge of voting. Observers recorded this at 17% of polling stations, affecting 4.3% of the voters they saw.
A spokesman for the Department for Housing, Housing and Communities said: “It is vital that we keep our democracy safe, prevent the potential for voter fraud, and bring the rest of the UK into line with Northern Ireland, with photo identification to vote in elections since 2003.
“Extensive analysis of the data collected from the polls is now being carried out by the Electoral Commission and the government, with final reports set to be published later this year.”
