Spoiled ballots?

Birdie6 is incorrect. Officers at the polling stations do not see the ballot papers. The votes have to be secret and the officer cannot interfere with this and therefore they do not take out the spoilt ballot papers. They are counted later and returned. Just find it annoying when incorrect information is posted as correct.

@Binglebong I'll be spoiling my vote today, same as I have for every recent ballot. If an Independent was standing who openly stated they can tell the difference between women & men I'd vote for them but there hasn't been so far. I won't vote for any individual or political party that advocates for the trans agenda. A couple of years back a very "nice" Labour member/activist earnestly explained to me after a WPUK meeting, when I told him I refuse to vote for any party that supports self id etc., that the whole men aren't women thing could be looked into after the important Brexit stuff got sorted, then his face fell as he connected the dots as I'd already explained that for me & most women that WAS the important stuff. We're almost 52% of the population/electorate yet we're still told to sit quietly & patiently wait for the menz to get round to it.

Does anyone know anything about the Climate and Ecological Emergency Independents standing in some regions? I just found out their existence this morning. I cannot vote for the Greens in this election due to their gender identity policies (although I did vote for them in the recent locals as we had some good GC candidates/councillors). As an Extinction Rebel on Waterloo Bridge last month, I feel I have to speak up against climate change and mass extinction; gender identity politics cuts against my fundamental beliefs that centres the materiality of biology at the heart of everything that is destroying the planet and women's bodily autonomy and right to self-define.

I'm thinking making a statement about brexit and the environment with my vote. Then afterwards I will write to the party I voted for and explain why I voted for them and why I probably won't vote for them again (because they back the unscientific sophistry of gender ideology whilst ignoring the lived reality of 52% of humans).

So in the end my proxy will be voting LD for me. I really wanted to spoil vote in a GC kind of way. Just content myself with writing back in great detail to all the emails I seem to be getting from them...no idea whether anyone actually reads them.

I too am voting anti Brexit.

I’m taking a deep breath and voting Lib Dem’s. They have been campaigning on one issue- stop Brexit, so I feel I can justify voting for them.

If you're for Remain, and really can't vote Green or LD, vote Change UK.

These EU elections are the nearest thing we may get to another national poll on Brexit. It's essentially a single issue election. Vote on this, don't spoil your ballot.

I am not voting green - I will not support a party that denies my existence as a women. But we have some independents. I am sure other areas have them too?

I had been considering spoiling the ballot paper but have decided that I should make a clear anti-Brexit vote. Large numbers of spoilt ballots could be claimed as protest votes by either side.

please vote against brexit party/ukip

not voting/spoiling is how these groups continue to rise.

None of us here need to be told about the struggle for the vote; but manipulating people into voting one way or another - and against their feelings or instinct, is certainly not in the spirit of democracy

Exactly! I’ll be spoiling, as is my right.

As a (non-British) EU citizen who has lived half her life in the UK I can’t tell you enough how much the outcome of these elections will mean to me.
The overall percentage of remainer parties vs the Brexit lot will show me what kind of country this is. If Brexit win I don’t know what I’ll do. Probably just despair. My partner is English.

I'm going to have to hold my nose and vote lib dems as well. Tactical voting for Scotland suggests snp (no fucking way) or if you're not nationalist lib dems.

They're also the only ones that turned up at my door, I filled in their questionnaire angrily including the FPFW site address... :(

This was a middle aged white man. Coolly informing me, a woman, that he begged to differ on what a woman is and that I should not continue to have sex based rights

Doesn't sound very bright. I think you should pursue that conversation further - via letter or email, to whichever constituency party was responsible.

Where they the new tranche of young Corbynistas, I wonder? They all tend to be right on message.

This was a middle aged white man. Coolly informing me, a woman, that he begged to differ on what a woman is and that I should not continue to have sex based rights.

Does anyone but the vote counter actually see it though? Genuinely interested.

I think the reasons for not spoiling your ballot paper in this election is that votes do count as it is a (complicated) PR system.

On the possibility of us somehow remaining in the EU because all the MPs are so up their arses on their individualistic soap boxes I do not want a lot of Brexiters representing us in the EU.

(Have to admit I thought we had transferable votes, but we dont although NI does!??)

In my EU region the non Brexiteers are WEP, Green and Lib Dem, so not sure which I will vote for given their anti woman stance.

I have spoilt my ballot paper at GE because the FPTP means my vote is pointless any way. And have not for a number of years seen the number of spoilt ballot papers reported.

...shocking though that he doesn't realise the importance of sex as a protected characteristic. And he's a socialist?

He also disagreed with me that sex should remain a protected characteristic

Where they the new tranche of young Corbynistas, I wonder? They all tend to be right on message.

Spoiling your ballot may seem attractive, but it never serves any purpose

It serves your own, inner purpose......and that is what is important to the people doing it.

And if enough people do spoil their paper, then it doesn''t go completely un-noticed. The high numbers of spoiled papers were commented upon in the recent local elections. " Spoiled papers are the new protest vote" it was said.

God I’ve just had local labour mob knock on door. Took the opportunity to briefly state my dismay on their stance on self ID, having been a lifelong labour voter. He stated abruptly that he would ‘have to agree to differ’ when I stated that women were not men who identified as women. He then walked off.

He also disagreed with me that sex should remain a protected characteristic.

Spoiling my ballot really is my only option and I’m gutted.

BuzzShitbagBobbly I'm going to do that. It means I can vote for a not right wing Remain candidate and still make a point.

Its embarassing doing it though. It seems really noisy and takes ages

As I understand it Buzz, candidates are entitled to ask to review the spoiled papers, and can potentially have them added to "their" votes.

An example would be if you wanted to spoil your paper by drawing something rude against the candidate you most dislike, that candidate could potentially ask for your drawing of a penis to be considered a vote for them.

The link here suggests how you should mark your paper to prevent this happening.
www.votenone.org.uk/protest_votes_count.html