Spoilt votes - post them here so that the parties/papers can see them

I'm pretty sure I'm spoiling my paper too.

I cannot in good conscience vote for any of them.
I will know.

I also disagree that this won't send a message. The threads and circulation of photos of spoiled papers (postal) will have a digital footprint.

The GC issue seems so middle class when I think of people actually starving and not having enough money to be warm due to conservative policies. That’s how I feel.

Which is why I've spent 30 fucking years working in homelessness. I've tried to make sure people have a home and food, for three decades. Am I allowed to use my vote only for those people who aren't actively trying to destroy my ability to define myself and impoverish the country? This time that's no one.

FWIW I'm not spoiling but I'd go to the barricades for the women who choose to.

Asking people to vote is asking us to put our name to something that we really fundamentally disagree with. They will take it as an endorsement.
If we don't vote - it will be taken that we don't care.
I don't care if one other person sees my spoiled ballot and starts to wonder. It's better than the alternatives.

the middle class women will be able to buy their way out of this shit show.

Absolutely. And Jo and Dawn and the whole lot of them cannot even see that. It makes me so fucking angry.

My vote is mine to give or withhold as I see fit. No political party is worthy of my support because of their undemocratic attack on the existence of sex and the oppression women suffer because of their sex. All the parties have been complicit in allowing the infiltration of government policies by Stone wall, of allowing the medical experimentation on children without question.
I will not consent to this abuse of democratic processes by awarding any of them my vote.
'No' is also a political statement.

So women who can take a stand, for and on behalf of themselves as well as the women who are unable to for whatever reason, are to be chastised as "too middle class", are they? Is that what you'd have said to the suffragettes?

Bit of a cop out answer that. You know you are telling people to vote (as opposed to not vote/spoil). You know our reasons for not voting, i.e., the total failure of any party to protect women. So give me a reason to vote. Let's try this by a process of elimination. Would you rather I voted Tory or spoiled my ballot?

No - Its not a middle class issue shesdressed the middle class women will be able to buy their way out of this shit show.

The GC issue seems so middle class when I think of people actually starving and not having enough money to be warm due to conservative policies. That’s how I feel.

I get that. But it is poor disenfranchised women who will suffer most from these policies. Women in refuges, women in prisons, women whose children have MH issues or SEN, the women who have told us that middle class students come to lecture them on identity politics when they are trying to do outreach work, elderly women on hospital wards, women in psych wards. This is not a middle class issue at all

Getting a bit sick of the 'think of the children' posts from people who don't seem to care about the scary trend towards experimenting on kids via puberty blockers - leading to bone density issues, leading to cross sex hormones, leading to loss of sexual function and fertility, leading to healthy organ removal.
I'm spoiling my ballot.
Bite me.

No, that really is stretching it. Most people living on the breadline don’t give a shit about the trans issue or aren’t aware it is happening. They are living day to day trying to find enough money to feed their children. Austerity needs to end now. If you spoil the vote it won’t stop one of the parties getting elected. I know which one I would prefer. I accept that not all will feel the same though.

I wouldn't dream of telling anyone how to vote.

Why on earth would you think that pointing out the lack of utility of spoiling is anything at all to do with recommending a party (whether major/minor/fringe) or an independent.

I think there are websites which claim to align your priorities and preferences to parties. So that might be the place to start if you decide to vote after all

think of people actually starving and not having enough money

Apologies for being a little facetious, but if self-id comes in, women can kiss goodbye to any hope of pay equality, because the male type of women - "coincidentally" paid more - will drag the averages up and be exemplars of how "women" aren't discriminated against.

Ditto getting jobs or promotions in the first place - any woman of childbearing age can kiss nice career enhancing moves goodbye when the male woman is never going to need maternity leave.

Pretty much anything that supports or prioritises or advances women in life can be negated, when male women prove the issue simply doesn't exist any more.

How's that going to affect women who already have it worse off?

While I understand people spoiling ballots I cannot in good conscience not vote to try to get the tories out and end the austerity that is causing children to starve and not have heating in their homes. I just can’t do it. The GC issue seems so middle class when I think of people actually starving and not having enough money to be warm due to conservative policies. That’s how I feel.

Still waiting for the Oh So Wise posters who criticise ballot spoiling to tell those of us who wish to defend the fundamental rights of women which of the parties reflect our viewpoint.

Oh gosh you got me bang to rights- I'm a TRA trying to make sure gender critical women don't protest by spoiling their votes.

That's rather an inflammatory comment. I have not suggested that as I'm sure you know, simply noting that although you say, 'do whatever you want' you have posted multiple times how you consider vote spoiling to be pointless. We get the message, thank you.

If you read the thread - and many others on the subject - you'll see that many of the posters have given years of service to political parties (mostly Labour but not always). They know how elections work because they've been there and done all the shit, drudge jobs. They've been at counts and they know there's no obligation to check spoilt ballots but that the cannier agents and candidates do so, especially if they're losing. But in any case, the reason they're doing it is because they're at the end of their tether. It's very sad.

Here's an idea. Print off the picture at the top of this thread, take a glue stick with you, and attach it to your ballot. It says everything. It will stand out from a scribbled on ballot. It could constitute a single uniform message that attracts the attention we want.

I have RTFT.

I am however on a knackered screen phone, and colour change for linnks doesn't always show well. I shall go back through earlier parts of the thread (though I note other comments since I posted, and it seems unlikely it's going to be useful after all), but if anyone is feeling kind, what is the time the post containing the link I sought?

so called extensive spoiling of ballots was actually a minuscule proportion of votes cast and less than in previous elections. It was a non- story being spun.

And yet here are an awful lot of voters, all saying that we intend to do it in this election. And therefore, this time round it might very well be quite a significant story.

So come on then, who should we be voting for to protect the rights of women and girls?

I refer you to the extensive national coverage of spoiled ballots in the most recent elections held in this country

And I refer you to the fact the so called extensive spoiling of ballots was actually a minuscule proportion of votes cast and less than in previous elections. It was a non- story being spun.

Could you link that?

RTFT

And yes PJs, coal mine's daughter here too.

Tbh the broadband thing has utterly enraged me too. We live in a very naice area. The fact that the Labour canvassers are offering us free broadband when there are people sleeping rough less than a mile away is just unbelievable.

No analysis of the numbers (spoiled as total of the whole, or published as proportion of the spoiled)

There would be no analysis because no- one analysed them in detail on the night (beyond checking in a close contest to make sure they could not be allocated)

Afterwards all ballot papers are retained and sealed and are no longer accessible to anyone without a court order.

There is also no analysis because the number of spoiled ballots in 2017 was 0.1% of ballots cast. In that 0.1% there will be any number of reasons , including sheer tin foil hattery, given for spoiling it along with the 25% of the 0.1% who voted for 2 or more candidates.

I used to think PR was a good idea but now I see how prone to entryism the LDs and greens are I am vehemently against it.