Local elections and sex/gender/trans issues

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He's an eejit.

Likes the sound of his own voice too much.

He thinks being controversial and being a TRA makes him relevant. And the has found the perfect employer in the garden.

He is a bully - his time will come! Bully's never win.

I'd rather spoil my vote than vote Tory

This is 100% true. My friend works for the elections team at her district council and I've worked with her at a polling station and dealt with the count and postal vote opening. The candidates (and agents) all see the adjudicated/spoilt ballot papers and the reason for rejection so they will see if messages are put on them. The specific comments won't be recorded but it will be known about.

Same goes for postal vote opening (although this will obviously already have been done for these elections). Candidates and agents are able to attend and observe the same way they would at the count and can see the adjudicated ballot papers.

It's far more common to get a cock drawn on a paper, or comments calling the candidates cunts, but imo the message does get through.

Although I understand the politically homeless thing and the frustration with Labour's stand on sex/gender, I really don't believe that further Conservative government will do anything to improve things for women. It is very likely to lead to amendments to abortion laws for example. Also the negative effects of Conservative gov on society in general affect women disproportionately. And although they are making the right noises, remember all this trans rights taking from women's rights stuff has come about under Conservatives. I don't believe they actually give a f* about women's rights!

It's a tough one but I might vote for the green independent candidate. My MP refuses to define a woman.

He's such a fucking sexist twat!

Owen fu**ing Jones blathering about on Twitter conflating anti abortionists trying to turn over Roe V Wade in the states with GC Feminism makes me so enraged I want to actually 😱 😱😱

I have a dilemma too!

Local Councillor (Tory) is pretty decent. BUT how can anyone decent represent the current Tory party. So its a no. Even though I have swallowed my dislike for the Tory party before and voted for him due to him being good and active locally.

Green candidate - I know. He is a decent guy and active in local community. Would be a good Councillor and fight for local area. But hate the party nationally and their abhorrent attitude to woman.

Labour- don't know much about candidate but they are my party of choice.

Libs - it's a no as they are too far gone with the removal of women's rights

@greengoose21b I did not know this! So are the reasons recorded anywhere?

I'm going independent.

He's the incumbent and a really lovely guy.

The labour candidate who knocked on my door didn't know what to say when I told him that I will never ever vote for a party who believe men can be women "because they say so".

I'm in a safe tory area, so my vote never counts, but I've decided that, given this, I will vote tory as the clearest way of letting other parties know that this issue is losing them votes.
It would be a different calculation if I lived somewhere marginal, and I'm not sure what I'd do in that a low turnout, or even spoiled ballot papers, won't deliver such a clear wake up call. I very much hope that by the time the general election comes round I'll have some better options.

For those who plan to spoil their votes...please write your reason why on them.

I have to adjudicate the discarded votes, which means I stand in front of all the candidates showing them the reason for the vote being discarded.

I would love..love..love to be able to stand there tomorrow night and go through a pile of votes with Respect My Sex on them. It would get the message across loud and clear.

It goes without saying, if you are in a ward where every last vote matters (I am not..by a long chalk) then please use your vote properly. Women fought for the right to have their votes counted.

I have a postal ballot so I have done mine already. I got the coloured pens out and scrawled "Respect My Sex If You Want My X" in large purple and green letters.

I'm spoiling my ballot tomorrow for the first time ever. The usual suspects will be re-elected but I can't stomach having a part of it.

People planning on spoiling their ballot should be careful how they do it, there have been cases where depending on how you do it they will count the vote.
For example I heard of a case where the person wrote "CUNT" against each candidate apart from one where they wrote "NOT A CUNT", the vote was counted for the last one.

This is a local election. I think the campaign Respect My Sex has been great for awareness and basically a warm up for the general election. We will of course have to discuss all this differently for the general election. If Labour can change their attitudes and policies by the general election they will get my vote, but if they continue with TWAW I will vote Tory for the first time in my life. If Labour get in at the general election and push ahead with Self ID they have four years to keep taking from women for the benefit of men. I can't risk them doing that.

I emailed all the candidates and have posted their replies in another thread. Based on their replies I'm voting tory for the first time in my life. Local politics has always been more about the candidates than the party and the tory candidate had the best response.

My 3 (and only 3) candidates tomorrow are Labour (the incumbent), Lib Dem, and Tory.

None of the three parties deserve my vote.

I have to wonder about the agenda here of so many left wingers saying spoiling votes is an acceptable option.
Spoilt votes for women, said no suffragette ever.

I'm in exactly the same boat as you OP. Tomorrow will be my first ever time voting Conservative.

I also have no idea who to vote for because I don't feel that any party are particularly interested in protecting the most vulnerable women in society who need it most.

And do you really believe that the Tory party will help most women? Or do you think Boris is just saying the opposite of Kier Starmer because he saw that what Kier Starmer said had a poor reaction?

It wasn't directed at you personally @DameHelena
It's up to people whether or not they decide racism is a dealbreaker or not.

There have been a few threads lately on why black women feel like feminism isn't for them. Threads like this contribute to the divide.

It's up to you what you do with this information but I am not sure why I should stay silent.