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

Floisme
It has been most instructive these last few weeks to see how riled some people get when women don't do as they're told

It has nothing to do with telling women what to do. That is the stock response on here if there is disagreement with the consensus. It's almost as if you (general you) want to shut up anyone with a different view.

There has been considerable misinformation about spoiled ballot papers, what the effect is, what happens to them and importantly who cares about them.

You have a voice, it's called a vote, use it. Spoiling it is no different to not voting and no one of import actually cares.

Giving my vote to any party would imply assent to policies which I am very strongly opposed to in each case. I won't do that.

Spoilt votes are counted and feature in turnout %. So not quite the same as not turning up.

I don't care if anyone cares. It's a matter of personal conscience for me.

Clangus00
My DH counts votes
From what's been written on that spoiled vote, they would "award" it to any female candidates on that card
Counters are told to see if there's any type of pretences, if not they get shredded

Wrong, wrong, wrong on every point.

It is impossible to tell from the ballot paper posted here what the voter's intention is.

How you or your husband came to the bizarre conclusion it would be "awarded" to a female candidate is beyond me, but it is complete nonsense.

Ballot papers, including the spoilt ones, are not shredded. Under the Representation of the People Act 1983, ballot papers and marked copies of the electoral register have to be safely deposited with the Government.

Really what's the point of spoiling your ballot. Who the fuck do you think actually gives a shit? Other than you and others doing it? Seriously all that matters is the people that vote.

You have a voice, it's called a vote, use it. Spoiling it is no different to not voting and no one of import actually cares.

It has been most instructive these last few weeks to see how riled some people get when women don't do as they're told.

Yeh, so pointless.

Won't make any difference at all

Spoiling is the act of someone for whom the system is no longer functioning and/or the candidates simply unacceptable/unpalatable.
It is not an attempt to make a difference to the result

Mine has already been posted. I contacted all the candidates and not one of them would define the meaning of the word woman, or agree that sex and gender identity are two completely separate concepts.

It's the first time in my 62 years that I haven't been able to hold my nose and vote for the least worse candidate. I refuse to be lumped in with the people who are too apathetic to bother voting, I want to vote but there is nobody to represent me.

I put a thick black line straight through all the square boxes and wrote NONE at the top, then wrote Repeal the GRA/Sex not Gender/no to self ID/Lesbians don't have penises across the rest of the page with a thick, very black pen. I think I made my point.

If enough people spoil their ballots in protest it might just raise enough of a stink for discussions of proportional representation to start up again. The current adversarial system of government where two parties bray at each other in the house of commons and once the ruling party gets kicked out the incoming government change everything is a national disgrace. We need a parliament where representatives work together to reach consensus, like grown ups. Not stupid, shouty, public school swagger and one upmanship.

Why, when they revamp parliament, can't they set up a circular discussion chamber, with properly comfortable ergonomic chairs for each member, with armrests so that new mothers can breastfeed, and sockets for phones and laptops? A redesign of the chamber to encourage co-operation and listening, instead of the bullish bellowing and point scoring that the current set up encourages. Bear baiting and cock fighting have gone out of fashion, can't our politics move with the times?

Won't make any difference at all.

It doesn't count for nothing. It counts towards voter turnout figures. I won't let it be said that I don't care or am apathetic.

Maybe noone in the political parties cares about spoilt ballots. More fool them.

This is why I am in favour of compulsory voting. In those situations, there has to be a "none of the above" option, and they have to count and record those votes.

Spoiling ballots is an entirely honourable and legitimate action, it is no different to marching with a protest banner. Spoiled ballots are counted, so it is much better than simply not bothering to turn up in situations where you do not want to vote for any candidate.

I have written to my LibDem candidate telling him why I will not vote for him, despite being an ardent remainer. I am in a very safe Tory seat, so he's got an uphill struggle anyway. Perhaps I would have held my nose and voted LibDem if it made tactical sense re Brexit, but frankly, I would have struggled to stomach such a decision. I'll probably spoil or vote for the People's Vote candidate, as, even though they have no chance whatsoever, I can sleep with a clear conscience.

I thought it was illegal to take photos in the polling station.

It's immature and a waste of your privelige

You do realise that in other countries, there is a "none of the above" option? Who is immature and wasting their privilege in those countries? The government who issues the forms, or the people who tick that box?

Also spoilt mine. Really don't give a shit if others disagree with me or want to judge me. It's my vote to use as I please .... and thanks for the suffragette picture upthread OP, I think it's an important one.

It's immature and a waste of your privelige.

I would argue that being an elected Member of Parliament is a privilege, and dismissing the views of a large number of the people you seek to represent, and supporting policies that will disadvantage them is the bigger waste of privilege.

There are so many other reasons for spoiling too......lots!

It’s a democratic protest.

Imho voting for any candidate who will wipe out women’s rights is an abuse of your privilege. Because that’s what making ‘women’ and opt in catagory means. Women’s vote as group on women’s issues will forever be a meaningless term now. Once self ID bill is past then any democratic power women as a group have is gone, as every women’s discussion, women’s group, women’s issue will now be meaningless as it will always include men, so erases our shared reality, our voice and our sex based protections.

It is most definitely immature and reckless to heckle women about how we are partaking in the democratic process.

It's immature and a waste of your privelige

I think it is you that needs to grow up.....You can vote for that with which you are in profound disagreement with if you think that makes you grown -up. Others will choose to act on their own conscience.

Literally no one apart from you is going to give a flying fuck

Sure seems to bother you, though.

I couldn't disagree more with your post Home2018

The political situation at the moment is shambolic. A vast number of people are voting tactically in one way or another, and so their voices - the things they actually want and need - are not being represented. They are voting for what they don't want, and for what they see as least worst. For those of us who don't see that there is a least worst, who cannot go against conscience, instinct and integrity and actively endorse any party, the only option is to show up at the polls and register that position.

Literally no one apart from you is going to give a flying fuck.

I don't think that's true. I think, if a significant number of people take the decision to get themselves to a polling booth and spoil their ballot papers, politicians should give a fuck about the fact that they have alienated an engaged electorate by spectacularly failing to represent their views.

My DH counts votes.
From what's been written on that spoiled vote, they would "award" it to any female candidates on that card.
Counters are told to see if there's any type of pretences, if not they get shredded.

See to me it equates with saying “all options have treated me with contempt, so I vote for none of them.” I can understand the predicament. Each to their own.

It doesn't count for anything.
It's immature and a waste of your privelige.

It equates with saying 'well I can't change anything so I'll just do nothing' and acceding to the majority in your area without a fight.

People who count the votes just chuck spoiled papers in the bin. They are not running off to the party leaders in a frenzy whilst fanning themselves with a bunch of spoiled votes and crying out that Something Must Be Done.

Voting there is not mandatory - or is it? If not, a spoiled ballot would mean more than sImply not voting.

Oh and for the record I’m spoiling my ballot (with the traditional NONE) not because I think it will do anything but because I can’t vote for any candidate here as they all support erasing women’s rights. There is no lesser evil and I won’t not vote. Like a poster said on another thread it’s about personal and political integrity. It will be counted, it will show I want to vote, but that no candidate offers any choice.

That doesn’t add up to anything currently. It would be great if it could, if someone would collect this info and use it for us. I think it could count then. In the meantime I will spoil my ballot and email all candidates as to why. (And I’ve emailed them all previously about this).