Two of America’s closest allies — Great Britain and France — recently held parliamentary elections. The British election took place on July 4; France’s election is a two-part election with the second phase happening on July 7. Both Britain and France are robust and vibrant democracies, and there is a lot they can teach America on how to ensure the security and integrity of elections.
In recent years, requiring that voters show identification to vote has become a hot and contentious political issue. Progressives and those on the political Left have been quick to charge that voter ID laws amount to voter suppression and even disenfranchisement. Those on the Left even backed a challenge to Indiana’s voter ID law that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008. To the disappointment of many progressive activists, the Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s voter ID law.
But it’s a very different story on the other side of the Atlantic where voter ID requirements aren’t so controversial. The UK implemented voter ID last year for local elections and this year for parliamentary elections. UK voters may provide any number of forms of ID to vote including driver’s licenses and passports.
Like the UK, France also requires voters to show ID. Passports or driver’s licenses are acceptable forms of ID. Even a hunting license with a photo is an acceptable form of ID for French authorities.
While many American critics of voter ID laws claim they create obstacles to voting, that hasn’t been the experience in France. Even with a voter ID requirement, turnout in the first round of the 2024 parliamentary elections reached almost 60% of eligible voters, a forty-year high and approximately twenty points higher than turnout in France’s 2022 elections. By comparison, in only one of the last six US presidential elections — 2020 — did turnout of the voting age population match or exceed turnout in the first round of France’s 2022 parliamentary elections. A national voter ID requirement clearly isn’t depressing turnout in French elections or stopping French voters from casting their ballots.
France and the UK also take security in mail voting — or, as they might call it, postal voting — far more seriously than we do in many US states. Due to concerns over fraud, France abolished mail voting in the 1970s. Today, it has returned but only under some limited, specific circumstances.
In UK elections, mail voting is permitted. Britain’s mail voting safeguards, however, are far more thorough and robust than those of many US states. For instance, to vote by mail in the UK, a voter must provide identification when applying to vote by mail. By comparison, some US states, such as New York, only require that a voter sign and submit a short application when requesting to vote by mail. No identification is ever required to be produced by the voter seeking to vote by mail.
Advocating for voter ID and increased mail ballot safeguards isn’t about disenfranchising voters; it’s about ensuring that commonsense safeguards are in place so that voters know their elections are fair and free of fraud.
In a democracy, election integrity isn’t optional; it’s mandatory. Our friends in Britain and France understand this, and they’ve built electoral systems that preserve the integrity of elections while also ensuring that every eligible voter has the opportunity to vote. American policymakers — especially those in New York State — would be wise to learn some lessons from them.
Joseph T. Burns is a Republican attorney and the former Deputy Director of Election Operations at the New York State Board of Elections.