To instigate a mass ballot spoiling?

[NobodyToVoteForNow]

With the local elections a few weeks away, and with a heavy heart, I've had to admit to myself there's literally no political party that recognises women as a distinct sex class with distinct legal protections under equalities legislation. And of course the added racism of the two main parties rules them both out anyway.

Knowing that candidates often have to help officials decide what spoiled ballots 'mean' - (do they represent a vote cast for a particular candidate or not?) gives me hope that this is a small way to get the message across at a local level.

I'm going to spoil my ballot with a hashtag that demonstrates the bitter irony of this occurring a hundred years since female suffrage. I'm a bit short on catchy slogans though, so if anyone else is thinking along similar lines, perhaps we could pool our ideas and come up with something fitting?

YABU

It is somewhat ironic given you mention the suffrage movement that you would then throw that vote away. Chances are, your spoilt ballot will allow the very people who you don't want running things to run things as the people who disagree with you will use their votes sensibly.

Each to their own of course but be aware of the consequences.

Me and my friends are all spoiling ours, currently thinking with "biologymatters - sex, not gender feelz" or similar. Quite a few colleagues are too, both men and women.

My mum who hasn't voted for years is also coming with me to vote and spoil hers in the same manner. Dp is also spoiling his as are his mum and dad.

It is somewhat ironic given you mention the suffrage movement that you would then throw that vote away

It isn’t throwing a vote away. It is a perfectly legitimate way of exercising your right to vote whilst acknowledging there is no-one who represents your interests

@theEngineWhoCan Well said Illustriously. Some people are hard of thinking.

How patronising. Does 'people' really mean 'women'?

@UpstartCrow I'm sick of men telling women to shut up and sit down, that they'll sort it all out after the 'real' issues have been taken care of.

👍 (though the 'thumbs up' has been spoiled forever by Corbyn)

Chances are, your spoilt ballot will allow the very people who you don't want running things to run things as the people who disagree with you will use their votes sensibly.

I'd vote for any party who agreed that a woman is an adult human female. They all appear to disagree with me, so whoever wins will be someone I don't want running things.

Spoiling my ballot seems better than not turning up at all.

Chances are, your spoilt ballot will allow the very people who you don't want running things to run things as the people who disagree with you will use their votes sensibly.

I don't want any of them running things if none of them even know what 51% their electorate actually are.

@Juells

How did I patronise them? I wasn't being sarcastic.

Men can be thick as shit too. Why try and twist my words?

@AstraiaLiberty

"I'd vote for any party who agreed that a woman is an adult human female."

UKIP do. Going to vote for them?

Given that local elections typically have v low turnouts, even a handful of spoiled ballots becomes worth taking note of.

I've been to many an election count myself. Spoiled ballots are such a tiny fraction of votes cast that they make no impression at all.

Not saying you shouldn't do whatever soothes your conscience, and I come at this from a very different perspective to you so I understand that you might not care what my view is.

Just saying - even if a few hundred MNers get on board with your plan and spoil their ballot with the same slogan, the impact nationwide isn't going to register.

You would be better arranging a protest at a polling station if you really want to be heard (but I know many who oppose self-ID don't like to publicly stand by their views...)

Absence indicates apathy. A spoilt ballot indicates that these people care enough about these issues to turn up to the polls.

For those saying no one will know or care if you spoil a ballot, do you really think, that if a record number of spoilt ballots is collected across the country it won't be investigated?

If you spoil your ballot then please don't complain when the party whose policies you detest gets in.

All of the parties standing local to me think woman isn't a biological reality. I want none of them in.

theEngineWhoCan UKIP aren't standing in the local elections in my area. If they were, I'd consider voting for them. I've done so before, on a single-issue basis.

Have spoilt ballots ever made any difference?

But yes, yabu.

I had considered ukip tbh because of this. It's an issue that's extremely important to me. But I'll stick to spoiling my ballot instead. Perhaps.

why not put I object to Self Id ,so have deliberately spoiled my ballot ,

we can get the Media involved then , and this Government will know how many of us object to that nonsense

For anyone who wants to print a sticker, I've been playing around with some designs for t-shirts but have modified one of them... What about something like this...?

@AstraiaLiberty nothing shows how little you understand or care about women than your suggestion that UKIP would be a better choice for women's rights than literally any other party.

UKIP want to scrap paid maternity leave and make it harder to access abortions. They want to scrap employment regulations which prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. They want it to be legal to discriminate against pregnant women, and women who might at some point become pregnant.

THAT is what you're suggesting you would vote for, in return for their refusal to recognise self-ID. Just admit that you don't give a single shit about women's rights because you don't have a leg to stand on if you would vote UKIP.

I love it, biology!

Not to mention, voting UKIP is the epitome of privileged white feminism. They support you on your one pet issue so you'll throw gays, lesbians, people of colour and the disabled under the bus for the sake of it.

You revolt me.

I like that, Biology

Catspaws I'm in a very safe Labour seat. Yes, I would vote for UKIP. I'm under no illusions that my vote actually counts for anything, due to the place where I live and the way the system works. There is zero chance of UKIP actually gaining power in my area, hence why they're not even bothering to run this year.

At least UKIP know what a woman is. That's fundamentally important to women's rights. I'd vote for them on a single-issue basis. That doesn't mean I agree with every other policy they have.

Not to mention, voting UKIP is the epitome of privileged white feminism. They support you on your one pet issue so you'll throw gays, lesbians, people of colour and the disabled under the bus for the sake of it.

You revolt me.

That's pleasant. How do you know I'm a privileged white feminist and don't fit into any of the groups you mention?

I was thinking about this recently... better for a general election though. I think it would definitely need to include the female symbol, and a word, maybe "resistance".

Wasn't there someone in the 2015 general election who drew a cock and balls on their paper, and it was deemed to count as a vote as it was within the box for one candidate? So, we could write in the box for our preferred candidate (sex/gender issues aside) and it may still count as a vote, or at least make them have to think a bit. Mind you I don't know how much attention this would get for local elections.

If you spoil your ballot then please don't complain when the party whose policies you detest gets in.

All the parties have at least one policy we detest. Can you seriously not grasp the concept of being unable to vote for any party?

@AstraiaLiberty that makes it okay then!