Have you spoilt your ballot? A thread to indicate numbers

And Lo!

Is it me or are other FWR members getting the vibe that a certain Party is nervous of vote spoiling?

I think I'd dishonour the women who fought for my vote by voting for a party who won't clearly state that they support women's rights.

People campaigned for the right to vote, not the obligation to vote for a party that doesn't respect them

I think you would dishonour them by spoiling your vote. What good would it do, they will just be thrown away. I always think of the women who died and women who still don't have a vote. It would be an insult to them to spoil your vote.

Well I'm sure the evening shift eXpErT ploppers will be driving by to tell us what to do after their sausage chips and beans.
Probably currently crafting a lengthy post in between the H.P sauce smears and a tinny in their Ma's spare room.

I emailed my candidates and the only one with satisfactory answers to my questions was the bloody Tory! The indie has ignored me, who was my last hope. It's just rude to ignore really, but maybe he thinks I'm a bigot, and can't bring himself to respond politely! 🤣

So Tory or spoil. Shit choice, isn't it? Spoil it is!

I'm with @Chrysanthemum5 , I think.

I've always voted. People died for my right to vote. I will not dishonour them by not turning up. In my youth, a million years ago, I campaigned for the liberals. Can't support them now.

However, this time around, I've emailed the candidates with specific questions, more than once, and been ignored by them.

What to do?

Spoil seems to be my only option. I'm still not sure.

Obviously. Brought to you from the people who also declared "Never comes up on the doorstep"

bUT noBoDy CarEs.

I know @Chrysanthemum5 started the thread to gauge what other people were doing, rather than encourage spoiling, but it's interesting to consider what would happen if there was an organised campaign to have mass spoiling. This is from a while ago, and from the undoubtedly less important PCC elections, but it demonstrates that when something out of the ordinary happens, such as a massive increase in spoiled ballots, people start to take notice

www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/nov/19/spoilt-ballots-pcc-elections-analysis

Vote for all of them. Then you won't get told off for spoiling 😉

I'm spoiled for choice.
Do I vote for the party who hates the poor, the disabled and immigrants?
The other party who really really hates immigrants?
The party who hates women who think for themselves?
Decisions decisions.

Still here. Not caring. With your long posts. You must write loads when you do care

I will be spoiling my ballot.

I've also taken part in the local count and agree that just because one person on this thread has decided they are all-seeing and all knowing, my experience of spoiled votes, outside of abuse and/or incoherence are absolutely checked out. Particularly if they reference a specific party/voter. But what do I know? I must be imagining things according to the Count Seer here who clearly has waaay too much time on their hands.

We aren't stupid, you say it once and we are informed. You dont need to repeat it on every page.

As for the spoiled ballots, I guess it depends on the area and if it's worth looking at them. But I've seen them be scrutinised minutely for any chance it could be a vote for a party that needs 6 more to win. I've also seen them counted and put away. Because even if all 45 were counted as a vote for a n other party, it would make no difference. And it was 45 spoiled ballots in the last local election in may.
I just checked.

It is not just the experience of one person it is the experience of everyone on this thread who has seen it. Why dont you volunteer for a count and see it yourself?

I was going to spoil my ballot, until we got a POW representative, so I'm going to vote for her!

It's patronising to imply that I'm not informed. I don't see the point of all this badgering. Fair enough to mention your experience once, but it's just that, the experience of one person. And we all know that the total numbers of spoiled ballot papers are collected. * *

This thread is embarrassing 🤦‍♀️

can you not tell the difference between badgering and shaming, or just being informed?

Do what you like with your paper, no one is telling you not to. But be informed about it

During covid an image of the spoilt ballot papers was projected rather than everyone crowding around them being held up.

I am trying to explain to you. This is what happens. No paper can be disqualified without a rep from every candidate being given the opportunity to agree the paper is spoilt. Being given the opportunity to. most don't bother most of the time.

The papers are held up one by one (or an image is projected in covid, which takes far longer, obviously) The official from the returning officer says why they are being disqualified. voting intention unclear, etc. There will be some people there, and some of them will look. They will be too far away to read. They will agree, yes, it has writing on, yes it has too many boxes ticked, whatever. if they wish to look more closely at a ballot paper, they will do so, mostly they won't.

The only ones I have ever seen closely examined and discussed are ones with ink smudges on. Can we reasonably say we know what the voters intention was? Did they vote, then drop their pen, so marking a second box too. (This happens 😂) Did they miss the box but still be close enough for it to be clear which box they think they have marked? Does their mark cover two boxes, but can we still be sure which box was intended? In these cases, the witnesses might ask to approach for a closer view, and there might be a discussion.

If the ballot paper is just written on, we just agree it has been written on, and is disqualified. We won't be close enough to see WHAT is written on it, and no one is bothered what is written on it, and even if they are, and ask to see, it would not be recorded anywhere.

I have examined papers where we needed to agree the voting intention was ambiguous or clear. That is done carefully and we take time.

I have never known anyone ask to read a paper. I have personally tried to stand near enough to read, but can't really, so without interrupting the long tedious procedure to make it longer and more tedious, I rarely know WHAT is written, unless it is large and clear, in a very thick pen, and says something short, like fuck off, or similar - which happens.

I'd be worried about Signal if she hadn't* *been aware of the effort being put in to badger and shame her and others out of spoiling ballot papers!

DO AS YOU ARE TOLD WIMMIN. STOP DECIDING AND DISCUSSING YOUR OPTIONS. YOU KNOW NOTHING. HOW MANY TIMES DO RANDOMS HAVE TO SEEK YOU OUT TO TELL YOU NOT TO THINK FOR YOURSELVES?

And get Malachite's tea on will you? Stick to what you are good at. Sausage chips and beans. The footie's on..

nobody is badgering or shaming you. Just informing you. maybe you have got some sort of condition whereby you feel like you are being badgered and shamed when you are not

It’ll depend on loads of things. How close the vote is. How diligent the candidates’ agents are. This sweeping ‘no one looks, no one cares’ is generalising bollocks

Fake news!!