Considering spoiling my ballot

Before you spoil your ballot, think about the other thing at stake this election. It's not just a fight to see who wins, but to see who comes second.

For the first time ever, there's a chance - a small chance, but nevertheless real - that could be the LibDems.

One of these is what we will wake up to tomorrow:
Labour in government, LibDems in Opposition.
Labour in government, Tories in opposition.

Which one sounds better to you?

If it's the LibDem scenario, please take the time to read my other thread for more detail. (I don't want to duplicate it here.)
www.mumsnet.com/talk/politics/5111596-the-libdems-could-be-in-opposition-with-enough-tactical-voting

Spoiling your ballot paper sends no political message at all.

No-one reads what you've put, and no-one attempts to distinguish between those who think they're sending a message from those with incoherent rants, those left blank, those which vote for more than one candidate, or are signed, or are just scribbled on.

It's an internet myth that it's a way of sending a message.

If you want to send a message email your candidates.

If you don't want to vote then of course you are free to, whether that be by abstaining or voiding your ballot by completing it incorrectly.

I think turnout will be low this election, as there are indeed many who will choose not to vote at all because they simply have no candidate/party they think is up to the role (a message that is indistinguishable from the CBA, so again it is worth emailing if you plan to do that and also want to send a message)

Spoiling a second ballot paper is not the only political action I take .
I disagree strongly with the rest of your post including your analysis of my character and worth to society .

If you're thinking about spoiling your ballot or not voting, please read this first. It might change your mind.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/politics/5111596-the-libdems-could-be-in-opposition-with-enough-tactical-voting

If you're going to spoil your vote, just don't waste your time in showing up.

If the only political act you take is spoiling your ballot periodically because you don’t like your choices so fucking what? Boo hoo. Is that a short enough set of words for you?

You are a self made nonentity with no voice or impact on the election, possibly less than no impact on society. Posting aggressive whining on mumsnet is literally the most you will accomplish. I don’t think anyone will mistake this for wisdom or courage. Its just narcissistic rage in the language of electoral politics.

Dang , that's some mighty big words ya got there .
There are no political parties with whose policies I am in reasonable accord so I am cosidering spoiling my ballot paper .
I did this at the last local election when the choices were Mark Drakeford's lot , a Tory and a peri-pubescent man-child who couldn't tell me what a woman was even if he had fallen out of one some years previously .
I hate spoiling my ballot but I'm not voting for the least worse , it just encourages them.

Yeah, this. Save yourself the trip to the polling station and don't bother holding up the queue to people who do actually know what they want to do with their vote.

There is no clear way of distinguishing between a post urging women to spoil their ballots for [insert obviously noble cause here] and a targeted voter suppression program or psyops designed to suppress women’s votes and further erode the power of women a bloc to to elect and direct reliable political representation.

If women as a bloc don’t turn out and vote for the causes they espouse then their political influence drops to zero. Not because the cause isn’t righteous but because all politicians follow the old adage “you gotta dance with the ones that brung ya.”

So anyone urging you to spoil your ballot—or claiming to have done so since this is pretty obviously a counterproductive and stupid thing to do, should be regarded with a great deal of suspicion (probably just voter suppression) and contempt (if sincere a profoundly stupid and self defeating act of performative pseudo virtue and electoral suicide.)

I had thought I'd spoil my ballot (postal) but when it came down to it I voted. I think for women it is hard to spoil a ballot particularly in a general election after what the suffragettes did for us.

The whole election is so depressing, but one person being PM on 5th July is more unacceptable to me than the other. My vote is probably of no consequence anyhow as this is a safe seat and I'm not voting for current MP.

This effectively wheesting yourself.

I will be spoiling my ballot for the first time. Maybe I will write "women won't wheesht" at the bottom.

Well vote for the least worst then and get involved in politics to shift the window of what’s acceptable.

A spoiled ballot is scrutinised only to check if there is any way that marks on the paper could be interpreted as a valid vote (and a cock and balls, if clearly only by one candidate can count as a valid vote)

A spoiled ballot is more likely to be seen as “another one who can’t follow instructions” than anyone thinking it’s a deliberate protest

On my student days, we had RON. Re-open Nominations.

The problem we have is that it wouldn't really change anything, but it would signify displeasure with the options.

No it is the complete opposite of wasting your vote.

Its going out, making the effort to vote - but clearly saying "you're all rubbish"

I'm totally with you. I'm passionate about democracy and the right to vote, but we only have P&C commissioners to vote for in May and have a choice of thick incumbent vs dumb and dumber wannabes.

I can't in all conscience vote positively for any of them.

Spoilt ballots are gone through by the returning officer, candidate and agent and the reason why they are spoilt ie no vote, voting for more than one candidate, doubtful vote (ie a cross goes over two boxes) is recorded.
Done at the end of the and the parties want to make sure that any good votes that might be counted are found rather than reading what’s written on them. As a broad minded female count supervisor I hate the cock and balls drawn in a paper just have an image of a very nasty perverted man doing it.

i agree that it’s better to vote and write your protest on the paper than not vote or leave the paper blank.

Yeah I'm just voting for the least awful

Just don't vote?

Actually it's usually about a minute

All spoiled papers are presented to candidates and their agents (I've been both) at the end of a count. Anything particularly artistic or amusing might attract attention but that's it.

Total waste of time nonetheless and achieves feck all.

This will achieve nothing. In the coming general election the only way to get the tories out is to vote labour so whether I 100% agree with all labour policies or not this is what I shall do.

I just heard a really interesting respinse to this question by Alexandra Occasio Cortez who is a US congesswoman. She was responding to a Muslim person refusing to vote for Biden.

She said she wouldn’t judge anyone but her metric for choosing who she would vote for was based on her overall political goals for the next four years. She asked herself which administration, a Biden or Trump administration, would be safer for an activist who wanted to organize to push for issues like: the environment, immigration, women’s rights, abortion, peace, elections themselves, democracy, prison reform(she did not list them but these are her concerns).

The choice of an individual candidate is not very meaningful in the grand scheme of things—but the choice of the entire party, administration, judges, etc…will make all future political scts either possible or impossible.

So think about your long term interests and the kind of world you want to do political work in.