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'?

The next government will be Labour.

There is probably not a single person in the UK who does not believe this will be the case.

Labour will not, however, win in my constituency.

The best I could really do is vote for the party I would most like to be the official opposition (Tories or Lib Dems).

I know I don't want it to be the Lib Dems. I am still not sure I did the right thing by spoiling my ballot paper rather than voting for the Tories. But ultimately any vote for a losing candidate counts for nothing other than an endorsement of that candidate, and I didn't want to endorse any of them.

@MissScarletInTheBallroom i don’t really want to get into a gender debate or a discussion about the right way to support children who are in complex situations with their mental health and understanding if that correlates to wanting a different gender identity. That wasn’t what the previous poster said, they specifically said they spoiled their vote by writing ‘Women = Adult human female, Keep single sex spaces’ and I answered with my view on what they had written. That I don’t agree it is helpful to spoil a ballot based on a single political issue as no person will align 100% with one party. So based on what I was responding to, the previous poster was making it about trans women being excluded from women’s spaces so my point stands.

Abstentions are reflected in the turn out figures

Spoiled papers are counted and the total recorded, but other than the Electoral Commission later releasing some figures on number blank/number who voted for more than one candidate/all the rest, there is no analysis and certainly no attention paid to what is written.

Candidates/agents do have the right to see spoiled ballots - to check to see if there's any way the marks on the paper could be construed as a valid vote. I've never seen anyone do this.

No-one is actually reading or paying attention to comments. IME if someone loses by a narrow margin, they'll blame turn out, not go grubbing round in the invalid votes pile.

Yes I've voted - for an actual candidate on the ballot paper.

I do understand the point that people are making in respect to the spoilt papers but I also think that nobody is going to be reading your comments and making parties aware of them. Isn't there a better way to engage with potential candidates eg via their social media accounts ?

I expect that for that poster there are many aspects of the issue that are pertinent. She just needed to come up with a one liner to indicate that her vote had been lost over women's rights.

There is literally no reason for trans women to be INCLUDED in women's spaces that doesn't ultimately boil down to "because it's what they want". They have nothing in particular in common with women, and if they actually were women then no one would care what they want.

All the candidates have to view spoiled ballots. They have to all agree that they a spoiled.

Not true.

The only person who has to see them is the Returning Officer

Candidates (or more usually their agents) can look at them as well, and can make representations about why a rejected ballot should be re-classified as a valid vote (which can lead to a discussion involving one or more counting agent) But general agreement from all candidates is not required.

IIRC, the only time there's been a notably high number of spoiled votes was in the Speaker's constituency in 2019. Did sod all to change the convention that the main parties field no candidate against the Speaker.

@MoggyP I am telling what happened when I stood for election at both local and national level .

They have nothing in particular in common with women

Not really sure what that means. What commonality is required? Being in a relationship with a man? Wearing make up? Having breasts? A uterus? There are plenty of genetic women who wouldn’t have these commonalities.

There is literally no reason for trans women to be INCLUDED in women's spaces that doesn't ultimately boil down to "because it's what they want"
That’s a strange argument, most marginalised people will fight to be included. How do you think women got the vote in the first place? Suffragettes stood up for what they believed and pushed themselves into ‘men’s spaces’ because it was what they wanted to the benefit of those of us able to vote freely in 2024. How is are those arguing for trans inclusion any different?

Quite right @FudgeMcFlurry. Spoiled papers don’t make parties think “ooh, we should really pull up our socks.” If you can’t find a candidate you fully agree with, you pick the least worst. Otherwise there’s a risk that you will get the worst worst.

Literally the only thing all women have in common with each other is being female.

The only thing women have in common with trans women is being human, which is something we all also have in common with men.

Your comparison to the suffragettes is a bit weird.

The suffragettes weren't pushing themselves into men's spaces. They were saying that women should have the right to vote, which they didn't previously. It was a straightforward equal rights campaign.

Single sex spaces already exist for both male and female people. Everyone is either male or female, including trans people. There are already spaces that they can use; those which correspond to their biological sex. They are demanding to be treated as the opposite to what they actually are, regardless of how the opposite sex feel about that, and generally reject any suggestion that third spaces could be created for them. The idea that a male person's subjectively experienced identity should give them the right to undress in the company of unconsenting women is pretty problematic, no?

Male people aren't marginalised, but a lot of the women negatively affected by the loss of our single sex spaces certainly are.

Absolutely not, too many women suffered in the past fighting for the right for us to vote.

I'm in a safe seat and voted for a young female independent candidate who put a leaflet through my door. The only one as it happens.

Spoiling your ballot paper is a perfectly valid thing to do. It's saying that I do want to vote but cannot choose one of these candidates. It's different to just not bothering to go.

And spoiled papers will be looked at by candidates' representatives, certainly in areas with close results. They have a right to try to make a case that the voter intended to vote for them.

Yes, I spoilt my paper and made it clear why.

Woman = adult human female. Respect my sex to get my vote

I very happily voted Labour but if I didn't like any of the main parties I'd vote Green or something. I just don't see the point in spoiling a ballot paper. No one will pay any attention to spoiled papers. They're only interested in who wins or how badly the Conservatives do.

There have been times in the past when people have felt the need to keep themselves segregated and have spaces only for them because the ‘others’ are dangerous, dirty, untrustworthy, uneducated, weak or different

Single sex spaces were not created because males could be dirty, untrustworthy, uneducated, weak or different. So curious that you said all that. The only reason to do so is to try to delegitimize legitimate concerns by making spurious comparisons. Not an honourable way to argue.

Single sex spaces were created to keep women safe from sexual assault, sexual voyeurism, for dignity out of a recognition that women get to choose which makes see them naked ( bodily autonomy being a basic feminist principle) and to psychologically protect women who have suffered sexual trauma.

This need to keep males out of female spaces remains. There is no evidence males are safer depending on their identity, and no evidence male predators will obligingly keep out of women’s spaces so as to protect TWs’ right to use them.

If you want to make the case for the loss of single sex spaces you need to do better than make comparisons that lack credibility.

This.

They can eye roll all they like, but they will see the messages and each party has to have a representative agree that the ballot is spoiled.

If you don't up a X but put something that states a clear preference for one particular candidate they can still potentially count that vote.

So if you wrote - DICKHEAD, DICKHEAD, DICKHEAD, I LIKE THIS CANDIDATE, DICKHEAD respectively by each candidate, the candidate you said was alright could potentially argue you stated a clear preference for them and that the vote should be counted for them. The other candidates would have the right to argue differently. They'd have a discussion and a decision would be made with the local officials. If you end up in a constituency which comes down to just a few votes, these votes can potentially become important.

The point is, that every vote has to be considered fairly. Everyone putting Xs makes it easier and so they aren't there until next week but you don't HAVE to do this. There are some legalities which are a bit technical in terms of what else is acceptable.

Its pretty normal for there to be ballot papers saying all kinds of things. Most are ignorable as fringe, but I do have to say that if you were getting quite a number saying similar, even if you eye roll you'd be silly to ignore it completely. Its unusual to see multiple ballots making a similar point on spoilt ballots tbh and it does feel like there is a concerted effort this time around. Remember journalists will be are a lot of these counts - particularly ones with notable candidates, if they see a pattern they see a story.

If your alternative is to not vote, why not? What are you losing by spoiling? If you think the risk of it being ignored is outweighed by even a slim chance of some taking note, then you may feel its the right way to make your democratic right to vote count. I don't necessarily think this goes against the priniciples of the women who fought for the right to vote at all.

Exercising your democratic rights and your rights involving voting don't have to come in the conventional X in the box imho.

@NZDreaming

you are also missing the point that it is not about trans identified people. Once you get rid of sex segregated spaces, all men can come in. And they are 50 percent of the population. The girls harassed. in school toilets that they share with boys, and which have been created due to gender ideology, are harassed by non-trans identified boys, but the environment that enabled that harassment was created by meeting the demands of trans activists.

The majority of sexual assaults that take place in changing rooms occur in mixed sex changing spaces.
I have experienced harassment and intimidation by young men in such changing rooms.

This isn’t about trans people it’s about males. But submitting to the demands of trans activists is letting the males into women and girls spaces.

I haven't read all through so sorry if someone said this already. Although we have the 'first past the post' system, the number of votes for each party will be known when they're all added up. Even if you vote for a minority party which isn't likely to get many seats in Parliament your vote indicates something. It's not wholly wasted.

Spoiling your ballot paper is a bit of a pathetic protest if only one person sees it. It’s better to make a massive poster with the reason why you’re not going to vote, then put it in your front window, lots will see the protest then. You could also have a t shirt printed with your protest and wear it every day during the campaign.

I wonder if tomorrow all those who spoilt their ballots will put the 'blame' for putting whatever party wins at #10, firmly at the feet of those of us who voted. Even though most of us voted because we feel it's important to do so. And voted not because we were particularly in favour of any party (as it seems most of us aren't) but because we felt it's important to vote.

It's totally pointless and I say this as a candidate who stood for local elections and had to witness a drawing of a penis scrawled over the whole ballot paper.

I just wondered how many times the brilliant counters had to do that.

I voted and always have. This is the first time I have felt politically adrift, however, as none of the main players fill me with any encouragement of a better future. We do however have an extremely good (Tory) MP who is very responsive and proactive with regard to local issues so I voted for him.

Does anyone else think that if Starmer gets in he'll be facing a leadership battle with Angela Rayner within the year, because that's my feeling.

Ive been and didn’t spoil my paper, I don’t understand why people do that

I’m not bloody happy about having to do it, and I’ll be blaming nobody.