Will this affect your vote?

[BovaryX]

Several people have posted interesting threads about the response of political parties to questions about how/if they will safeguard sex segregated spaces. Some of the responses to that question explicitly demonstrate where politicians are aligned when it comes to protecting recalcitrant women against a concerted attempt to force ‘gender neutrality’ on the public. Some of those responses have been quite eye opening. My question is this. How influential will this be on your vote?

I won't vote - i guess that's the objective - to re-disenfranchise women, particularly feminists.

Same situation here as for RoyalCorgi Tory MP, small lead over Labour.
Like pps I am furious with the spineless left wing options. I have daughters, the change proposed to the legal and social definition of womanhood would affect all our futures.
I would not consider voting Lib Dem after that response to the mumsnetter.
Greens - hmm Amy Challenor, non-men ...I don’t think so.
Agree with pp aslo that science denial a scary state if mind from any party given climate change.
Labour- not a hope, after the misogyny, anti semitism, shoring up of Madigan etc.
So that leaves Conservative or Plaid Cymru.

Sorry for typos, typing too fast .

Not voting in the sense of spoiling my ballot, i should add. I've been a candidate myself and ended up reading quite a lot of beautiful/ obscene/ frustrated spoiled ballots - so don't believe anyone who says they won't be seen/ read. Doubtful whoever's saying that has as much political experience as i do.

His budget will bankrupt this country. His taxation plan will cause our biggest taxpayers to flee immediately

In many respects I say good riddance to them, then. They spend most of their time finding loop holes ways to avoid tax in the first place. Our economy is far too dependent on the financial service sector in London; our manufacturing sector having being wilfully destroyed & dismantled by the Tories, or sold off to foreign buyers.

I'm imagining you live in the S.E, or south? I live in the N.W, and it would be great to see some of this huge tax burden these super wealthy people pay being spent on transport and infrastructure and other public services here. It isn't, though. I won't miss them.

Am annoyed about it but it won’t affect my vote as I consider Brexit, public services etc a higher priority, and all the parties I might vote for have ill thought through policies on single sex facilities, services, sports etc.

well with farages announcement today it looks like a hard right/pos no deal brexit alliance will win.

reminds me of a recent conversation i had with an austrian academic- why was there so little resistance to hitler?

• the smaller parties were preoccupied with other things and couldnt agree.
• everyone was filled with fear of communism.

la plus ca change

My only concern is, will the police deem it to be a 'hate crime' and go after us?

Voting is anonymous, how could they?

Another who is politically homeless. in an ideal world I would vote Green. The two most important things to me are a fairer society (no more welfare cuts, support the NHS, women's sex-based rights matter, we should wonder and care about why so many young people are trans now and why is disproportionately girls and autistic girls) and stopping or at least softening Brexit.

Gobsmacked at the people who are wanting to protect women's rights but will vote Tory - Austerity, bedroom tax, welfare cuts etc etc etc all disproportionately affect women. I couldn't vote Tory for a million reasons, PIP assessments and benefit sanctions are genocide. Fucking ironic that my Tory MP Liz Truss is the only MP on record as being GC

Please be absolute clear that whatever you write on the paper will be disregarded, forgotten about within minutes of the victor's announcement. There seems to be some idea that there are discussions, research and analysis of spoiled ballot - there is not

Not if enough people take to having to do this. in the past, maybe - when most of us were willing for the 'least worst' candidate. Times have changed though and we no longer can.

I'd never before heard any reference to the large number of spoiled ballots until the last round of elections; when it was mentioned on the national news. In the past the only reference would have been on the night of the count itself.

i'm not sure why you are so keen people vote against their instincts and feeling of integrity? Just to say you have voted? Voting has to mean something.

The one thing I can say in favour of voting Labour is that there are gender-critical women within the party fighting to protect single-sex rights. (Also true of Plaid Cymru.) In the Lib Dems, the TWAW position seems to be a done deal.

The Tories, I fear, are completely cynical and will say whatever they can to get people's votes. I doubt very much they are ideologically committed to reforming the GRA - but on the other hand they will stamp on women's rights in a whole bunch of other ways.

Yes, I am making this the issue I vote on and have written to my local candidates about it

The Lib Dem one seems unaware of his party’s policy 😆

It does influence my vote, along with Brexit, but luckily the choice is quite easy so far (Joanna Cherry or some little twit who posts terf-spray memes about her).

It's a highly educated and politically astute constituency, with no tribal loyalty. It was Alasdair Darling's seat before Joanna Cherry, Ruth Davidson is our MSP and Greens get the PR extra seat. However, for this election only one party is putting forward an actual grown up.

You never know who the Tory is as they just advertise as Ruth Davidson's choice, with her face over everything. Lib Dem's and Labour are fielding people straight out of Uni. Either everyone assumes JC has it in the bag and they can give the kids a shot without them winning, or it's a really weird choice in a marginal seat (with high voter turnout) to put forward such rubbish people. I can't remember an election where I felt so disconnected.

The one thing I can say in favour of voting Labour is that there are gender-critical women within the party fighting to protect single-sex rights. (Also true of Plaid Cymru.) In the Lib Dems, the TWAW position seems to be a done deal

I think you are right; even though I'll not believe it really until some stand up in parliament and actually say so.....You are right about the LIB Dems too... a lost cause, and in many respects the worst of the lot. I also could never consider voting Tory. I just couldn't do it; and especially not with the evangelical right wing lot in the cabinet at present

Please be absolute clear that whatever you write on the paper will be disregarded, forgotten about within minutes of the victor's announcement. There seems to be some idea that there are discussions, research and analysis of spoiled ballot - there is not

Not if enough people take to having to do this. in the past, maybe - when most of us were willing for the 'least worst' candidate. Times have changed though and we no longer can

You (general you)are deluding yourself if you think anyone is going to be interested in your radical feminist essay written on the back of a ballot paper. It might make (general) you feel good at the time but beyond that, no one will care. In all likelihood no- one apart from the teller and the returning officer will even look at it.

it would be great to see some of this huge tax burden these super wealthy people pay being spent on transport and infrastructure and other public services here

Well yes, but that's not going to be possible if they fuck off to Bermuda with their millions is it?!

Please be absolute clear that whatever you write on the paper will be disregarded, forgotten about within minutes of the victor's announcement. There seems to be some idea that there are discussions, research and analysis of spoiled ballot - there is not

Probably not discussions no, but if enough usual voters actually bother to spoil a ballot and say why (I am can be sticker woman) then it will be raised. Even if just one person thinks through the ramifications and has more balls than millwall to stand up and say something then my spoil wont be in vain.
Maybe the counters will see it and wonder, or already know and be empowered by other people saying the same thing.
It's a point to actually get to the polling booth, in my case a long walk away and be so upset as to spoil that vote. It means something to me. At least for my daughter I fucking tried.

Wanting to retain and bring back lost single sex services, facilities and sports doesn’t make one a “radical feminist”.

My main point was that many of these well-meaning, anxious to be accepting, young people will try very hard to believe that TWA actually W and may vote accordingly.

The general public isnt falling for trans ideology but the split between remain and leave was so close that I can't risk spoiling my vote. I'm voting tactically to try to get the tory mp out.

Well I was going to vote Lib Dem but won't now as our local candidate is strongly in favour of trans rights and I can't vote for them.

I'm in a Labour area though so don't think they will get through anyway.

I can't vote Tory so looks like it might be Labour for the first time ever as while I'm not a fan of Corbyn our local MP is decent so looks like that's my only option.

Not voting in the sense of spoiling my ballot, i should add. I've been a candidate myself and ended up reading quite a lot of beautiful/ obscene/ frustrated spoiled ballots - so don't believe anyone who says they won't be seen/ read. Doubtful whoever's saying that has as much political experience as i do.

Well said Ruffle
I disagree with those who say it won't matter.
My feminist "essay" will be a few words about what woman stands for.

I'm super wary of anybody saying it won't matter or belittling women for a 'single issue'. As Michelle said, it's every issue and (see Suffragettes post) it's depressingly familiar when others try to tell us that none of this matters.

Well yes, but that's not going to be possible if they fuck off to Bermuda with their millions is it?!

Thatcherism and what that unleashed has been around since the 1980's. It hasn't happened yet, and it is not going to. Most of those millions are probably already banked off-shore, anyway.

Probably not discussions no, but if enough usual voters actually bother to spoil a ballot and say why (I am can be sticker woman) then it will be raised

no it wont. there are several ways you can raise the issue but this isnt one of them.
if youre fine with an emboldened farage/johnson far right/hostile environment/no deal brexit then spoil your vote.
of perhaps wait and see whats on the manifestos even?

To those with behind the scenes experience of polling stations-

If the spoiled votes were spoiled in the exact same way ( the suffragette sticker is a brilliant idea) would that have more impact?

Had the there been no self-id issue in this election I’d have voted Lib-dem. So I’ll write to the Lib-dem candidate, spelling out why I won’t be voting for him.

I’ll also write to the Labour, Con, Green candidates, spelling out that as a homeless Lib-dem supporter I would have voted for any party that showed they were listening to the concerns of women, regardless of Brexit and other issues.

Writing these letters will be more satisfying for me, and more likely to come to the attention of candidates, than spoiling my ballot.