If you voted already, did you spoil your ballot?

[HesGotHisTrombolyse]

I just voted - I couldn't align with any of the parties in their current state but I felt spoiling my ballot was not the best move. So I voted. If you voted already today, did you spoil your ballot? If so, is it because you couldn't align with any of the parties 'on offer'?

No. Voted tactically to get the Tory out.

You turnout.

They will know who has turned out in stats.

That's significant enough as data.

They gave their lives so that we had the right to vote if we choose (and if there is a party which supports their interests). I expect many of them would be insulted by how many of the parties choose to treat women now.

Susan B Anthony said "No self respecting woman should wish or work for the success of a party that ignores her sex" and I agree with her.

I spoiled my ballot by writing the reason why across the candidates' names.

I did spoil my ballot. But it was a postal vote and I'm not sure it will get there on time.

There's a thread in FWR about spoiling. Someone has just posted that she ticked the box for the candidate she dislikes the least but also wrote a message on the ballot paper in such a way that they will have to have a discussion about whether it is a valid vote or not, which I thought was quite clever.

If mine arrives on time it will just be recorded as a spoilt ballot and chucked in the bin without further scrutiny. But given how late it arrived I was in a hurry to get it in the post so I didn't have time to deliberate over precisely how to spoil it.

Yes. Not voting at all is failing to honour the memory of women who died for us

Thankfully we have a candidate who aligns with me generally on the environment, the care system/NHS, and that being a woman isn't a feeling...so I voted for him.

He doesn't have a chance of winning the seat, but I'm comfortable that I've voted with my conscience.

I disagree. You would not have even had a ballot to destroy. People need to follow their own conscience.

No. Spoiling a wives nothing.

Achieves!

If my spoiled vote is ignored that's not on me. It's on the parties that didn't respect my sex. Or pretended they did for 5 minutes to get my vote.

I don't hope to achieve anything, I just couldn't in all good conscience vote for any of them.

Abstaining = I don't give a shit
Spoilt ballot = I do give a shit but they are all shit

I vote tactically. Spoiling ballot papers is just a pain in the arse for the counters.

Some of us don't loosely align with anyone. Each party has a policy/policies we feel may go against our principles, our conscience etc. So if they did get in (this party we vote for, just for the sake of it) what would that achieve for us?

Spoiling your ballot achieves nothing. It's not a protest. There's no distinction at the count between a spoiled ballot that's spoiled deliberately and a spoiled ballot that's spoiled by someone who doesn't understand how voting works. It doesn't send any message to anyone. It's just the same as not voting at all.

I've voted, just like I've voted in every election and referendum since I turned 18. But if there ever came a time when I genuinely felt I couldn't vote for any of the parties (which is extremely unlikely, but anyway) I simply wouldn't vote. I wouldn't turn up and write a futile message on my ballot paper that will be seen only by a bored council worker doing a shift at the count to earn some holiday money.

Why is that quite clever? They won't be interested in her comments or point of view, just whether to count it for one candidate or not. So a waste of time for the counters.

I thought (possibly wrongly) that spoiling your ballot would just mean that the tories just stay in?
As in if everyone did it nothing would change?

I believe all spoilt ballots are shown to the candidates to prove they're spoiled.

Because they will see her comment and point of view. That's why. And if a candidate loses by a handful of votes and knows that at least one of the votes they didn't get was for this particular reason, chances are they'll reflect on that. It's a level of scrutiny that no other votes actually get.

Yes.
I wrote ‘none of the above. Respect my sex if you want my X. Women won’t wheesht.’

Probably pointless, but I had to turn up.

@FudgeMcFlurry

i didn't spoil my ballot, though I had thought about it.

I don't see it the same as you do. They fought to give us a voice, if my opinion is 'I don't want ANY of you' that's still a voice.

I personally don't think that's insulting. Would you find it acceptable if there was a box to tick for 'None'??

No it’s not, no one gives a shit.

No, I voted conservative.

"I thought (possibly wrongly) that spoiling your ballot would just mean that the tories just stay in?
As in if everyone did it nothing would change?"

That's not how our electoral system works. Every MP is in their own separate race.

I don't actually know if there's a rule about what happens if every single voter spoils their ballot. It's an interesting question. I guess they would have to re-run the election.

Spoilt ballots aren't counted as a vote for the incumbent though.

I don’t want any of you is nonsensical we need to have a government for goodness sake.