Is it better to spoil your paper or just not vote?

[cremeeggsonboxingday]

I am really struggling with deciding who to vote for tomorrow in the local election. To be honest, I can't bring myself to vote for any of them. I'm just wondering what would be the best way to make an impact. Would a low voter turn out send a message or would it be better to write exactly what I think of them all on my paper?

Yabu = don't vote
Yanbu = spoil your paper

In the same way people who ave genuinely accidentally completed their papers spoil them.

A number if spoilt papets is announced, who knows what the reason are for the 'spoil '

A low turnout however does make a difference. It shows disillusionment and that people arent prepated to vote. Thats a kick up the bum for parties relying on as many people as possible turning out to vote for them in the next GE

How does it "create a huge headache for the clerks" exactly?

Don't not vote - spoil your paper instead. Spoiled papers go into a separate pile and are read, and certainly give some entertainment to the people counting - who are not civil servants (as claimed up-thread) and ballot papers are not shredded (they are stored away for a while should any legal issues arise).

The local authority has gone to the trouble of printing a ballot paper for you, make sure you use it in some way.

How does it "create a huge headache for the clerks" exactly?

@daimbarsatemydogsbone - we both know it doesn't!

I didn't even get a poll card through the post this year. I'm registered to vote as well... does that mean I can't vote? Does anyone know? 😂

I'm tactical voting.

You can do anything that doesn't involve putting a cross or similar in one candidates box. You can cross through them all, write "none of the above" or anything you choose on it, draw on it if you wish.

I'd quite like a national push to get people to write "none of the above" on the papers rather than not vote.

Normally I'd be voting for the least worse option but our area regularly flips between the current incumbents who have been awful in so many ways I'm not sure I can bring myself to vote for them and a party I would never ever vote for in a million years. There are less bad candidates standing but can't help feeling it would be a wasted vote in an area where it might actually make a difference.

You don't need your poll card to vote, I'd turn up and check.

Are there really no small local party/independents or something like sdp/communist party/ or as PP something like green - unlikley to win but show there are votes there for green issues?

I've found a very local party - they won't take the council but they have in previous elections taken a few seats from main incumbent party and seem to think they stand a chance in this ward - I think it sends a message to all the main parties they need to to up their game - while also getting some much needed focus on local problems.

If there's really no one to vote for then I'd suggest spoil ballet.

A common spoil is apparently a picture of cock and balls.
In current year however an awful lot of women are considering woman=ahf.

I personally did this the last couple of votes, but I've now at least decided which is the best of a terrible bunch. And boy are they terrible choices.

Sorry but I don't agree with spoiling a paper at all.
No one cares when you do this. No one reads it. No one notes down your issue or problems.
It'll go in a pile for spoiled papers but literally, it will count for nothing.

The only thing people will give a shit about is valid votes as only valid votes make any difference.

Please remember if you choose to spoil your ballot be careful not to inadvertently vote. For example drawing a penis next to a candidate’s name is counted as a vote as the person indicated a preference for one candidate. Crossing through and writing none of the candidates is much better option.

you could consider which candidates you think will listen to your issues and attempt to help and represent you if you should need it

or

Decide which candidates you think will do their best for the majority of people

there will never be one you agree with on everything unless you stand yourself

Yes we know and yet still plenty of people spoil ballots
Its perfectly valid to spoil ballots if one wants to. It is after all their ballot.
I ask this question so often now, does anybody go into reddit or pistonheads etc and tell the men they should never spoil their own ballot, if not why not?

That's hilarious !

I don't know why posters always come on threads like this and wrongly claim that 'no-one sees a spoiled ballot paper' and 'only one person sees it'.

That's simply not true, and not how election counts work legally. Plenty of people at the count see it: the vote counter who opens the ballot paper; the returning officer; the candidates (all of them); and their agents (all of them). This is because there has to be an attempt to reach an agreement as to whether ballot papers are in fact spoiled, or genuine attempts to vote. (Where there is no agreement, the returning officer has the final call.)

I should know - I've been involved with enough election counts over the decades.

Just vote for the least worst option. The candidates may be awful, but they have put themselves forward and some combination of them will be making decisions for your area for the next few years.

You have chosen not to stand yourself (no judgement here, I certainly have no interest in running) but you have a voice and opinions so use those to shape the make up of your council.

I've seen a smiley face next to a candidate's name count as a vote, but tbh that was in an election where there was a runaway winner so no-one was really fussed about arguing the toss.

I've also seen lots of penis and balls pictures and they have always rather extravagently taken up most of the ballot paper, so were regarded as spoiled. I can't say that any of them looked like masterpieces.

Messages written in actual words were always read by the candidate & agent 'huddle', as some were genuinely interesting or funny.

I don't have a Reddit or pistonhrads account but I say the same to everyone...the leaders only care about the votes. They do not care about spoiled ballots. It means nothing.

They may "see" them but do they care? I can't imagine a winning candidate give any thought at all to a few spoiled papers. Perhaps if there were hundreds of them and a candidate lost by a small margin, they "may" think about "what if" the spoiled papers had been votes for them, but again, probably unlikely.

Having worked in the polling station and on the counting no one is interested in spoiled ballots.

No one reads them, except maybe the clerk doing the sorting. They get counted for the purpose of accounting but what may have been written on them is not recorded anywhere that's it. Waste of time imo.

I have never heard a politician asking the electorate to spoil their votes.
they are only interested in the people who vote for them.
Local councillors are in charge of local facilities, if you want sex based facilities vote for the councillors most likely to provide them.

my local Tory councillors are great I’ll vote for them.

My MP is Crispin Blunt, who is a Tory and full on Stonewall and recently defended a peadephile sex offender, hes standing down at next general elections , but no way would I ever vote for him.
Lisa Townsend is the Police Crime Commissioner for Surrey, she’s a Tory, I didn’t vote for her because she’s a Tory, and that’s not my natural voting preference, but now I know more about her I will definitely vote for her next time if she stands, because She is a Gender Critical feminist who didn’t take shit from Crispin Blunt and others when they tried to shut down her defence of women.
so basically find out about the candidates, vote for your best interests.

The only votes that count are the ones that are legible and properly cast.

Is everywhere voting. I've had nothing through either? It's not usual for all the areas to have local elections at the same time.

I disagree with that spoiled votes don't matter. At any given count you will always encounter a few, but all the political parties are obsessive number crunchers who take note of everything and compare results election to election. A higher number of spoiled ballots will be noted. It shows that someone is engaged in the democratic process and feels strongly enough to reject all of the candidates. Staying home doesn't show anything except to decrease already low turn-out figures that the parties will probably chalk up to apathy.

No, the reasons won't be recorded, but the candidates and their agents hover around the counting tables and often want to see the spoiled votes - they get twitchy because they go in their own pile and they want to make sure you're not making a mistake or conning them out of anything. That's my experience of years of working in elections.