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'?

Spoiling your ballot is not the same as not voting.

You will be counted on turnout demographics for future reference. You turned out. You are marking your demographic as more likely to turn out than others.

The story tonight may well be a massive drop in turnout for certain voter profiles if what pollsters are saying about turnout is accurate.

That sets a agenda for future elections which is important if you don't like any this time around.

Parties will try to court people who turn out more than those who don't.

I have sent messages by email. The lack of response from the candidates confirmed my decision not to vote for them.

Yep, at best it would get an eyeroll from the person counting the votes snd then forgotten

I tried to engage with my Labour candidate, but he ignored my email.

I’m shocked anyone thinks any candidate is pouring over spoiled votes and gives a crap.

That's not great but I'd vote for the candidate who troubles my conscience the least then. A party will never align 100% with someone's personal views on every issue so you find a tactic that works for you. Some can vote for an MP of a party they don't agree with because they're a good local MP. I vote tactically to try change the make up of the actual government. Imagine being in Clacton and the amount of nose holding some will have to do there!

This above 100%

Also what reaction do you think a spoiled ballot will get from the counting officers? I think I can pretty much guarantee its no more than a passing tut so any feeling of "well that showed em" would be pretty misguided.

Women fought and died to give me a vote I personally wouldn't disrespect their efforts and spoil the paper

It can make the candidates feel awkward.

DH has been at the count before. He finds it genuinely amusing because they read comments out. He's seen a few squirm.

Not all eye rollers.

There are a lot of very naive people on mumsnet.

Are you ok? You seem unnecessarily angry about anyone with a different view than yourself on this subject.

Come again? So you would rather have voted for a party that lied to you?

I think people just like to think that their spoilt ballot will get some attention.

Of course, the reality is that nobody cares about what they've written on the ballot paper, and there is no attempt to collect meaningful data on spoilt ballots at either a local or national level. But I'm sure people will keep telling themselves that they're making their voices heard. Whatever.

Having observed a count I think that is slightly wishful thinking.

None of the parties represent me. I've used my vote on the independent candidate - it was the best I could do.

FudgeMcFlurry · Today 12:32
No. Women gave their lives in the past to allow us the right to vote and I feel that spoiling my ballot would be an insult to their sacrifice.

I'm extremely conscious of this so I couldn't disengage from the voting process altogether and I appreciate the argument that someone has to govern so it's important to submit a vote BUT how bad does the least worst option have to be before they're no longer worthy of a vote? I had four candidates on the ballot who, in my view, are happy to disregard the rights of women so I couldn't vote for them. The others were a party who I consider have been wofully incompetent for the past fourteen years (as well as being liars and cheats) and a party of racists and climate deniers. Which is the least worst option out of that bunch? Sorry, I just couldn't do it.

The trouble is that all of them trouble my conscience.

I wasn't about to vote Reform for obvious reasons.

I won't vote for anyone who believes a woman can have a penis, so that ruled out Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens.

I considered contacting the Tory candidate and asking him a few questions but I didn't think I had it in me to reward them for 14 years of misrule.

I couldn't make head nor tail of what the independent candidate was all about other than a few local issues about bins and parking and so on, which I'm not very interested in, and I didn't want to inadvertently vote for someone whose values and beliefs are very different to my own. So I emailed him to try and find out a bit more about where he stands on certain issues that are important to me and he didn't reply.

I know that Labour will win, probably with a huge majority. My constituency will go either Tory or Lib Dem and in the end I felt it was out of the question to vote for either.

I would rather the Tory wins than the Lib Dem for two reasons. Firstly because I want the Tories in opposition and not the Lib Dems. I broadly agree with most of Labour's policy positions and the only area where I really think they need holding to account is in respect of women's rights/self ID/implementing the Cass report. The Lib Dems will not challenge them on these things. The Lib Dems will urge them to go full TRA and bin the Cass report and be more like Canada. And secondly because I don't want the Tories to be so weakened that Nigel Farage might take over and turn them into the UK equivalent of the Rassemblement National. That's not good for our democracy.

So I considered voting Tory. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it

Spoiling was the only option in the end.

I don't get this. If you are going to spoil your ballot why bother turning up in the first place.

People don’t spoil their ballot papers to get a response from the Counting officers! Good God, what are you and others thinking when you make these comments.

People spoil their ballots so that it’s counted and recorded. They don’t want to be viewed amongst people who weren’t interested enough to vote and stayed at home. These are perfectly legitimate and coherent reasons.

Of course they are counted along with people lacking the wit to correctly fill in a ballot, but that can’t be helped. When you vote for a party you are voting amongst people who have a dim grasp of what that party stands for. Can’t be helped.

As for spoiling ballots being a futile gesture, well for those of us voting in safe seats for someone other than the sure thing candidate, our votes are pretty futile gestures too.

I am voting for a candidate but the sneering aimed in this thread at those who are spoiling their ballots is absurd and baseless. It’s pretty clear why people are doing it. Voting for someone you dislike or staying at home are hardly such superior options that sneering at those who spoil ballots is justified.

To show that you care, but you think they're all shit.

Staying at home just says you don't care.

Hear hear, @triangleatthetop! 👏👏

Snap.

Show who?
It just goes in the bin and doesn't count

Abstentions and spoiled ballots are recorded differently. That's why.

I don’t get this. Why ask a question that is answered by simply reading the short thread you posted it on?