Concerns have been raised by a senior council official over the need for Swindonians to produce ID when they go to vote next year.

Voters in Swindon, and across the UK, will be expected to produce an accepted form of identification at the polling station when they vote next year.

But Swindon Borough Council’s returning officer, Susie Kemp, is still concerned about what forms of identification will be expected, how officers will be expected to verify them, and whether the council itself will be expected to issue identity cards to voters.

The government passed the Election Act 2022 earlier this year, following trials in 2018 where Swindon was one of the boroughs in a trial which required voters to show ID at the polling station.

And at local elections scheduled for May, they will need to bring an accepted form of photo identification, which includes a passport, driving licence or concessionary travel pass.

For those people who don’t have one of those, the legislation says they will be able to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate, probably from January.

But whether those passes will be issued by councils like Swindon, and how, is just one of the issues of concern to Ms Kemp.

She told councillors: “We are still talking to the government about how this will be done. I’m concerned about how we will be expected to verify the forms of identification.

“I worry about an election that is decided by just one vote, and if there’s doubt about verification and then we might be facing an election petition. And we know an election petition is hard.”

Ms Kemp was referring to the petition, upheld by the High Court, to overturn the declared result of the Highworth Parish Council elections in 2019 after a counting error.

Labour councillor Jim Grant asked Ms Kemp whether she was lobbying Whitehall for extra money for both verifying and possibly supplying election identification. She said: “It’s the verification that I’m most concerned about – any ambiguity could be very difficult.”

In 2018 Swindon spent money on informing voters they’d need to bring identification, but Ms Kemp said: “We were handsomely paid by the government. We won’t be getting anything this time. But I’m sure the government will have a national campaign next year telling everyone and we have an excellent communications team who will add to that locally.”