Spoil My Vote

[Monkeyhoney]

Is the legitimate way to register my considered disgust and despair with the system itself.

Foul effluent in our rivers , mass die-offs of insects and birds, and native mammals, rising poverty, elderly freezing to death , falling literary, no youth clubs, amenities closing, whole generation of renters , families eating poor diets as can't afford a decent one.

Surely it's better to put committees of experts in their fields, making transparent decisions, in charge of running the country. Not politicians who have shares or positions in companies that are necessary for survival.

There's no other way to record this conscious decision that our country and our kids deserve so much better, and that its time we collectively spoke to calmy start a new sensible, non political solution. With local decisions voted on locally in school halls.

Hence, I spoil my paper.

Family tradition is we draw a cock and balls on it. Lol. RIP Dad. Seriously though, the current system is an insult to humanity. Then you get called apathetic if you 'don't bother' to choose between the greasy politicians.

Spoilt votes are counted and announced by the returning officer on the night.

It's not the 'only thing' that loads of us can do. And I'm not sure the word "should" in the context of "free voting" works 🤔?

But Why?

But why?

Since when do I have to prove improvements in our country's failings , in order to justify registering my protest vote on the system itself???? 🤔

So how do people use their vote if they genuinely can’t bring themselves to vote for any one of the shitty candidates presented to us?

There is not one candidate in my area that I will vote for, even as a protest vote. So do I spoil my vote or not bother? I’ve been taught to always vote, even if it means spoiling it, and I’ve stood by that all my life. I’m not prepared to drop my principles to vote for someone I have less than zero faith in.

Maybe the extra people who registered to vote plan to spoil their Ballot paper as a protest on the rubbish system!??

Yessss!! Very powerful words , and totally echoes my experience 👏

Why won't they??? That historic result would rock the Establishment to their core - and give ordinary people a mandate.

It's the only peaceful way I can think of achieving that.

I did. I couldn't in all good conscience vote for any of them.

One Tory, one racist, three who believe women have penises.

Jesus wept.

I can assure you there is no ploy or conspiracy!!

Neither of the two-horse-race need my help in aiding the so-called "opposition" .

Its that very set-up I'm saying needs to go in the bin.

But why??

It's not wasted, if it keeps my integrity. I cannot hand on heart join in this farce !

Just stop it with the attempts at voter suppression.

Nobody who thinks any of the candidates on their ballot paper are worth voting for is going to be persuaded to spoil their ballot by randoms on Mumsnet.

Agreed!!!! It's not called an accident paper. It's been purposefully Spoiled.

A protest vote cast and counted.

Totally legitimate way to express our feelings of the state of the UK and the shonky, inadequate, outdated, crap system.

Your vote could help someone get their deposit back, or encourage them to keep on standing. That's just possible advantages though. I've spoilt my ballot for the last five years. No more holding my nose and voting - although MRP may get my vote this time.

I think spoiling your ballot is always better than not bothering.

I like that the candidates get to see the spoilt ballots, it means that they know you made the effort to go to the polling station to reject them all.

Yes, but it doesn't actually make a difference to the candidates. Or the result.
If you want to protest, go for it, but I question how effective it is.

It will have no more impact than not voting at all though. The only impact is wasting your own time to go to the polling station and not vote.

irrespective of what silly picture you draw in The grand scheme of thing a spoilt paper means absolutely nothing.

Ah, but that wouldn't be clever enough for the people who want to waste a vote.

If the reason you want to spoil your ballot is because women's rights are important to you then voting for the Lib Dems makes no sense whatsoever, regardless of their other policies.

As for voting for them because they want to bring in PR, I once voted for them because they wanted to abolish tuition fees.

I am a vote counter. Your spoilt paper will be recorded, and shown to the candidates and verified as such. Therefore they do have (however small) some impact, as the candidates will typically read the comments. However briefly.

In my opinion it is a protest vote, and treated as such in the numbers.

So go ahead and spoil your paper, as it reflects your beliefs. We get these every year- and to be honest they bring me a huge amount of joy on a long and boring evening (I know this isn't why people do it- but regardless, they make my night).

I have spoilt my paper this year. I am casting my well earned vote for no-one, but have written a poem, and drawn a picture to indicate my disdain for all the parties. I cannot bring myself to vote for any of them.

As is my right.

I’m with the OP. Spoiling your ballot paper is a legitimate form of protest and always has been. It’s what I’ll be doing for much the same reasons.

Disagree. A record number of spoilt papers would send a clear message people are getting fed up of the system .

Not turning up is viewed as apathy.

It will mean a lot to me. No matter what I draw!

Yay, thank you! 😊