To let people know how to spoil their ballot?

[HoofWankingSpangleCunt]

Today 13:59HoofWankingSpangleCunt

This election has really brought it home to me how uncomfortable I am voting for any of the three main parties. I don't want to vote for the local Independent on a donkey sanctuary ticket* just because I feel I have to vote for someone. If I do that my concerns about the other parties goes unnoticed.
So tonight Matthew, I'll be spoiling my ballot. It has to be done a certain way to count as spoilt. If enough of us do this then voices will be heard.
advice on how to do it correctly
I'm going to pop my AIBU Vote Button cherry on this thread as it seems apt.
*Or whatever the local issue is.

Subject:
To let people know how to spoil their ballot?

Message:
This election has really brought it home to me how uncomfortable I am voting for any of the three main parties. I don't want to vote for the local Independent on a donkey sanctuary ticket* just because I feel I have to vote for someone. If I do that my concerns about the other parties goes unnoticed.
So tonight Matthew, I'll be spoiling my ballot. It has to be done a certain way to count as spoilt. If enough of us do this then voices will be heard.

I'm going to pop my AIBU Vote Button cherry on this thread as it seems apt.
*Or whatever the local issue is.

you are totally pathetic op. just give it up and don't bother voting.

If you do wish to spoil your ballot, do it properly. Last election there was a story doing the rounds about someone who drew a cartoon penis in the box that you tick. As the cartoon was only in the tick box, it was counted as a vote for that candidate. It's probably bullshit.

I work the elections, postal votes then the big count usually. Seen all sorts over the years, poems, shopping lists and a cock and balls at the referendum. Depending on the drawing or whatever if the intention is clear then it could count as a vote.

Perhaps the people on here giving the op a hard time would like to have a go at Michelle , who was on PM , this evening. She's the mother of a knife crime victim who isn't voting because no one addresses her concerns. An intelligent well informed person who feels "left behind " such that she isn't actually voting.
Maybe some of you should wonder why people are feeling left behind with no one to vote for instead of trotting out stuff about besmirching the sacred memory of our ancestral sisters who fought for our right to vote.

Yes let's all spoil our ballot or not vote at all that will really show people we are serious wont it 🤦‍♀️

repeat thread from op,

As others have said, they only count spoilt ballots to make sure ALL ballots are counted.

100 people turn up to vote and are checked in.
1 person votes Tory (there's always one)
89 people vote for labour, Lib Dem etc.
10 people spoil their ballot paper.

The ONLY reason the 10 are included is so that they can check that the numbers add up.
100 Ballot papers given out, 100 votes counted in.

Nobody cares if you waste your vote.

@slipperywhensparticus , ignoring people's concerns is how we ended up with Brexit. Lecturing people on ProperThink doesn't end well. I've been voting since the mid eighties. I always vote . I refuse to be driven from voting but I literally have no one to vote for. There is no least worst in my constituency. If Lord Buckethead was standing I would vote for him as a protest. He isn't. So I can't.

You’re being silly

Agree - nobody cares how you spoil your vote.

They are scrutinsed to see if the marks on the paper could be construed as a valid vote. And that's all. No attention is paid to what is written on the paper, or how it is spoiled.

There are a number of posters who say they have direct experience of the count, and they all say the same thing.

And YABU - there is no need to instruct people on how to spoil a vote. All they need do is make marks on the paper that are anything other than a deliberate mark in one box. (And famously, yes, it doesn't have to be a cross, it can be a tick or even a carefully drawn cock and balls)

How very mature!

"repeat thread from op"

Many similar threads, I haven't noticed if it's all the same poster, but it seems to me that they will keep going until someone says 'yes marvellous idea'

Snag is very, very few people do think that. And those who know about the processes of a count know that no-one will care how a paper is spoiled, they'll just check whether it is or not.

And the press aren't really allowed to report on what is on ballot papers. So whatever you put goes no further.

If there are people who allegedly don't know how to register to vote, there must be people who don't know how to spoil their ballot or who don't even realise that's an option.
But dismissing people as ignorant and foolish is always appealing

It’s ridiculous to think your local MP who wins your seat will look at the number of spoilt ballots and think ‘Oh no 12 people chose to spoil their paper, I must fix evehrthing’ - you’re not achieving anything. Not voting doesn’t mean no result, it means that you’ve wasted your chance to show your support to a candidate and demonstrate what you value. Safe seats are only safe because people who oppose them don’t show up to vote!

This whole thing makes me so cross. It’s such a ridiculous privilege to have the right to vote and not care enough about the consequences for those who need decent health and social care and who will be harmed by the Tories getting in by default.

I lived and worked in a country where spoiling your ballot was an act of rebellion.
So your argument about privilege is nonsense.

Our 1st pass the post system discriminates against smaller parties so you feel like u r wasting your vote. In some areas it is not worth voting because one candidate wins by a landslide. A PR system would be much fairer and reduce voter apathy

Maybe the thing to do is to show your spoilt postal ballot on your twitter feed, then post it off?

If you share on social media at least someone will see your spoilt intentions weren't the same as "multiple marks." Otherwise you could just be any other voter who can't follow directions.

I thought it was illegal to post pictures of your ballot paper.

I thought it was illegal to post pictures of your ballot paper

It can be. Anything which erodes the secrecy of the ballot is potentially an offence, and publishing a paper's unique reference is banned.

@NoSquirrels
But I don’t want to not use my vote. I’m not apathetic, I’m not part of the 70% that can’t be arsed - I want to register a protest.

This is problem. People need to stop doing “protest votes”. That particular era in some countries is over. “Protest voting” is how the UK ended up with the shit show that is Brexit because people decided to be cheeky and vote out instead of actually thinking shit through. Same thing in the US. People wanted “something different” and “protest voted” for Trump and look where the hell we are now.

Your vote actually does go a long way, people. Think it through in the long view before you opt out or abdicate your choice.

Why would a pic of own ballot be illegal but shouting at a whole pub full of strangers how you voted be perfectly legal? World is weird.

Protest votes will just be lumped in with all the "couldn't follow the instructions correctly to tick a single box clearly" ballots. No one will know how many of each there were.

I profoundly agree with JingsMahBucket. Protest Voting is what got us in to this mess.

Ignoring people's concerns is what got us in this mess.

I also don’t want to play the game so I’m with you.
I think it takes courage to stand against the status quo and not just be a follower/ do what everyone else says you need to do. In one way or another I honestly and adamantly believe none of the parties are a good option. There is no least bad for me so I won’t be picking one. I think a wasted vote would be voting for something I don’t support or believe in.

Thanks Hoof. That's what I'll be doing.

===

Some of you are so bloody pompous. Vote for who you want, I don't care which clown you vote for. That's all that's on the table though... and I don't like clowns.

People have got the intelligence to know how to do it, you don't need to fucking tell them.