Spoilt ballot not counted

As far as I can tell, numbers if rejected papers were at typical levels this time. Has anyone seen anything that shows differently?

In my constituency there were 355 rejected papers, up 155 from 2017, and the turnout was lower this time too.

"These ballots are seen, and by people who can make a difference. They are scrutinised by the candidates and their agents as they try to scrape every ballot paper to be a vote for them"

That would only happen when the count is so tight that the number of rejected votes is greater than the difference between the neck and neck candidates.

Candidates rarely scrutinise papers in person (usually it's their representative) and when they do they are looking to see if something can possibly be a valid vote, not paying real attention to the meaning of the word, just their location and whether it could be endorsement of one candidate and one only.

As far as I can tell, numbers if rejected papers were at typical levels this time. Has anyone seen anything that shows differently? (Yes I know there are variation and some wouid be slightly up or down on previous GEs, but have any/many gone more than about 0.75%? (I've not - yet - come across any)

And I have only seen one piece of report about spoiling (Farage, surprisingly). Maybe there will be more the Sundays?

"It’s quite worrying that people claiming to have counted ballots are saying that."
CLAIMING. Enough of us here have acted as counters, scrutineers etc. to know what actually happens.

And to all those saying it doesn't count, nobody sees them, the numbers are so small, blah blah blah - you're missing the point. Again. Deliberately.

These ballots are seen, and by people who can make a difference. They are scrutinised by the candidates and their agents as they try to scrape every ballot paper to be a vote for them.

Do you seriously think it doesn't sink in that of the, say, 120 spoiled papers that night, 10 were protests about women's rights? That they don't know that for every on of those 10 who turned up to make their protest, more just didn't go to the Polling Station at all?

It’s quite worrying that people claiming to have counted ballots are saying that.

That absolutely would not have been counted for Andy, or anyone else 😂😂🥰

PMSL at people suggesting such a thing!

It needs to be absolutely clear who the vote is for to be counted, and that is not.

@makingmiracles it's the local district council. Mine only has the votes cast at the moment, but previous years are shown on a PDF that wasn't hard to find. If you find your area's council website, and the results for 2017, you'll see what you are looking for.

I spoilt my paper and the total number of spoils is 304 which is 0.45% of the electorate - so I think they will have been scrutinised! Also I told the LD bloke I was spoiling and wasn't the only woman doing so

If you look at your constituency's website the info should be on there (or maybe not til next week depending on how busy/cross/distracted they were on Friday )

Mine looks like this:
www.scambs.gov.uk/elections/elections-2019/

ON which website can I find the full breakdown of votes for my constituency? I’ve tried googling but only brings up newspaper results, is there an official website that breaks down the results for each candidate plus uncounted votes?

Have you read the thread, Philbricks?

I took the stand yesterday to spoil my ballot, based on self ID and women's rights. Looking online this morning in my constituency, there are no spoilt ballots. It has been categorised differently. I am fuming. There was no ambiguity. how many more protest votes have been Mis categorised deliberately?

Perhaps you should have done some research before making your grand gesture? Your post shows a fundamental misconception of what a "spoilt ballot" is.

All ballot papers are counted. This is because the number of ballots in the box is known and when the tellers count them the total they reach, including rejected papers, must match that.

If a ballot cannot clearly and unequivocally be allocated to a candidate it is rejected and put in a category of its own. A paper will be rejected for reasons such as voting for 2 or more candidates; voting for none or marking it in such a way that the voter can be identified. The returning officers will check that the tellers have made the correct call.

At the end of the count the returning officers announce the total number of ballots cast, the total for each candidate and the total number of rejected votes. Some , but not all, returning officers also break down the rejected votes giving the numbers for each specific reason for rejection.

If the result is very close the candidates will want to review the rejected votes to make sure they cannot be allocated.

Constituencies in the UK range from around 56,000 to 72,000 of electorates. On average 0.1 to 0.3% of votes are rejected in every election giving a range of 56 (0.1% in a 56,000 constituency to 216 (0.3% in one of 72,000). These figures are minuscule and beyond the announcement made by the returning officers on the night aren't reported on news sites because they are irrelevant.

"I clearly wrote that I could not in good conscience vote for a lying adulterer with no moral compass nor could I give my vote to any party who did not understand the definition of woman and which was determined to erode women's rights."

@theunknownknown I would have written exactly the same, had I had smaller writing and not left it so late I was in a hurry! Very articulate, well done!

www.electoralcommission.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf_file/UKPE-doubtfuls-booklet.pdf

useful info

I dunno where this idea that counters bin things or spoilers ballots are chucked comes from. There were 4 stages at our count last night: count number of postal ballots and ensure they’re all there; same for polling station votes; sorting into piles by party; counting piles. Spoilt were separated at stage 3 and the returning officer, candidates and party members poured over them - to make sure they’re genuinely spoilt.

There was a lot of checking! Things do not get randomly binned on one persons day so - there were no bins in the count area and nowhere you could hide something. You are watched the whole time.

That would not have counted as a vote for Andy. Twanwan is absolutely correct - I have worked at polling stations and the count.
The spoilt ballot papers are taken to a separate table and then each candidate or their agent looks at them.
Primarily it is to establish if it could be counted as a vote for them. But in doing that, they will have seen every single spoilt ballot paper and those who wrote clearly why they were spoiling will have had their words seen.
I spoilt mine - I clearly wrote that I could not in good conscience vote for a lying adulterer with no moral compass nor could I give my vote to any party who did not understand the definition of woman and which was determined to erode women's rights.

I spoilt my ballot too, and my constituency has well over 200 spoilt ballots. I assume the number of spoilt ballots is counted separately to those who have voted for a party. So it doesn’t reduce the percentages and for each party?

twanwan3 Thank you. That's better than what I had thought. Makes sense though. If I was a candidate, I'd want to look.

Used to work at counts, that would of been counted for ‘Andy’ on the bases that there was a cross in the name box

No it would not.

Any mark that seems to support a candidate can be counted as a vote which includes smiley faces, a comment, message or drawing.

Used to work at counts, that would of been counted for ‘Andy’ on the bases that there was a cross in the name box.

This worries me... do counters actually do things like this? It's clear as day that it's a spoiled paper with a vote for none. It worries me that people may be politically motivated to allocate to a preferred candidate even when it's a spoiled paper.

Or are you just telling fibs?

Ok, I've found previous years, so it will follow eventually. I'd be interested to see whether it's went up this year.

LonginesPrime
A spoilt ballot wouldn't be counted - they're discarded.

Why do you and other try and perpetuate this myth?

They are counted and called at the end of the count, they always have been.

The wankers politicians may not take any notice of them, but they have to be added to the total to ensure that no election fraud has taken place.

i.e the number of voters equals the number of ballots counted.

It really is simple to understand.

Still not up in my area.

Used to work at counts

So did I.

that would of been counted for ‘Andy’ on the bases that there was a cross in the name box.

Don't be ridiculous.

These are the numbers for the last 3 general elections in my constituency. It took a bit of hunting on the Election section of the council website, but it should all be available to you. They also had a front page, so to speak, that just gave the number of votes per named candidate, the % turnout, and the size of the electorate. But they are obliged to, and do, publish the details. My council doesn't seem to offer the breakdown within the categories mentioned earlier in the thread.

And yes, personally, it was worth spoiling, as none of the 3 candidates were representing trustworthy political parties. My vote, my choice.

I was never going to just not turn up.
Hear hear!

I remember my DM saying sadly how most people voted against someone, rather than positively for a candidate. In other words, there was always someone you disagreed with so much, that you would vote for the opposition just to stop them getting in.

Yesterday, I disagreed with all of them so much - not just about this issue - that there was no-one I could hold my nose for.