Spoilt votes - post them here so that the parties/papers can see them

[MrsFogi]

I know there is a split of opinion about spoiling ballots vs voting for the least bad option.

If you do decide to spoil your ballot it feel free to post a photo of it here (be careful not to include any information that identifies you and in particular not to include the ballot's unique identification number) in case any of our loitering journalists wish to pick up the story or in the hope of giving the parties/candidates some pause for thought.

In case it is of interest (and you want a place to post your views for/against spoiling ballots), there have been a number of threads about spoiling ballots, a few links below:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3751902-Spoiling-my-ballot?pg=2 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3749890-Can-we-talk-spoiling-ballots-again-sorry
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3743237-advice-on-spoiling-ballot
Advice on Spoiling your vote

They're out in force on my local Facebook group. It's relentless. If I was a floating voter their behaviour would have put me off of voting labour.

I've always been a bit of a floating voter. It's certainly put me off. Even without the self-ID stuff, I find the authoritarianism, tribalism and narrowness of viewpoint that Momentum has brought to the Labour party really chilling.

I've just seen the Owen Jones thread and momentum can fucking do one.

Sorry if I missed something- but are spoiled ballots counted in any way publically? Or will it count as no show?

Im struggling with my conscience about the 4 options- Con, Lab, Laden, Green- but after not being able to vote for a few years I want my vote to 'count' as it were.

Purple ... that would be fucking glorious

Only

Sorry if I missed something- but are spoiled ballots counted in any way publically? Or will it count as no show?

No they are counted. Both numerically and in terms of voter turnout %.

DP and I both spoiled. We wrote "No Self ID, WOMAN = ADULT HUMAN FEMALE"

No photos as the polling station people outnumbered us two to one and I didn't want to risk it.

I almost wavered and voted Labour as usual (muscle memory perhaps? ) although in my constituency voting labour is as pointless as spoiling. In fact there will probably be far more spoiled ballots than Labour votes even without DP and I protest spoiling!

I'm in a lib dem Tory marginal

I think i'm going to vote tory rather than spoil later. It would be worse for women if the lib dems got a seat hear than the Tories, so I think I have to act accordingly

Thank you @GCAcademic.
I'm taking my DDs with me after school- they are only 6&8 but hopefully they can begin to understand the importance of voting (and spoiling if necessary)

I've also spoiled my ballot. I thought long and hard about doing so before making my decision and was nearly in tears at the polling station. But I just couldn't in all conscience give my vote to a party who ignores women.

I used green and purple pens and wrote in a box at the bottom 'None of the above' then wrote across the ballot:
No party supports women
Women matter
No to self-ID
Women are not non-men

TiredofthisBS
They're out in force on my local Facebook group. It's relentless. If I was a floating voter their behaviour would have put me off of voting labour.

Even if it wasn't for self-ID, Momentum and Magic Grandad would have put me off voting Labour.

there are more people for a GRC reform then against

Cool story bro.

// this

I'm imagining some strange time spin or loop happening whereby the suffragettes were with us today -

Bear with me, a poster up thread asked us to ponder for a moment that humans could change sex so I promise mine isn't the most ridiculous contribution yet ...

• and they're fighting and campaigning for our rights today. How many transwomen would stand with them and fight for our tights?

What have TRAs done to better the lives of (biological) women? How much have they done to end the violence inflicted by men on us every day?

Meant "rights" obv. Although quality, affordable hosiery is also important

Spoilt my ballot with pre-written stickers.

In purple and green 'NONE', 'NO TO SELF ID' and 'WOMAN = ADULT HUMAN FEMALE'.

It's a very safe seat so I fully recognise that I had an easier decision than some. I really feel for others in more marginal constituencies.

I have never before thought so hard about how to cast my vote. I don't care if nobody reads it. It still 'counts' both in swelling the numbers of spoiled ballots, which may become a phenomenon in this election, and more importantly, with my conscience.

"Sorry if I missed something- but are spoiled ballots counted in any way publically? Or will it count as no show?"
Yes they are counted. And you can bet your arse that in a tight marginal where there is a recount, the candidates will insist on examining them closely.

Spoilt my paper:
None
Woman = Adult human female.
No to self ID.

Safe Tory seat so no bugger will care but I feel better.

Ok, you write your wee notes and everyone else will understand that no party is perfect but you try to get as close as you can with your vote, then work from there

There are other reasons for spoiling the ballot; although, of course, the self ID issue is one of the most profoundly important....

Voting for a party or a policy is an endorsement of that party & the behaviour of its leaders; and it is effectively saying that serious issues are unimportant to you. I have profound issues with all of the parties, on certain issues.Issues so important with regard to my values and my feelings of integrity I cannot endorse any of them.

Wrote NONE across all the candidates.
Stuck my printed label on which reads

I will vote for the party which commits to upholding women's sex-based rights as outlined in the Equality Act and which defines woman as an adult human female.

Then, just in case my sticker peeled off, I wrote woman = adult human female.

Why did I do this? Because

Because they will take my vote as an endorsement of all their policies. They always do - all parties do. They will take MY vote as an endorsement of their appalling, anti-women's rights policies.

They can fuck right off.

This. And this is exactly why I'm spoiling my ballot. And I don't give a fuck if people disapprove or scold.

And because I'm tired of being told there are more important issues and to wait - I expect the suffragettes were told that too - I held my nose and voted Labour last time. If I had been teetering on the brink of doing that again (which I wasn't), Jeremy Corbyn's interview in the Pink News the day before the election would have knocked some sense back into me.

www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/11/jeremy-corbyn-gay-rights-lgbt-equality-iran-hamas-section-28-general-election-interview/

Spoilt mine after much soul-searching (my great aunt was a suffragette); was going to vote Labour but cannot after Corbyn's recent statement re; the GRA.

I also spoilt my paper. I sat in a cafe 45 mins beforehand as I was torn between that and voting Tory to try and take a labour seat but ultimately, even though Tory have not pledged self-ID in the manifesto, it has been slipping in under the radar under a Tory government and they have not shown any sign of upholding women’s rights. So I felt I really had no one to vote for.

My Tory candidate did reply to my email and said he agreed with me. But he kept his email short, didn’t answer my actual question about upholding women’s rights and just seemed like he wasn’t that bothered.

Anyway I did the same as others on here, I wrote
NONE
WOMAN = ADULT HUMAN FEMALE
WOMEN DO NOT HAVE PENISES
Then the Venus symbol in every box.

I can’t believe I actually wrote penis on a ballot paper. But here we are. Sad times.

WTAF, why was my post deleted @mumsnetHQ? It said the same as many, many other posts on this thread

I don't understand how we've got to the point where the options are - self ID any bloke who says he is a woman for any period of time (e.g. Pips Bunce) can go in the 'woman's' (now mixed sex), or ONLY single sex. What happened to third spaces? It just seems like such an easy, common sense solution. What's wrong with being trans and proud? Why is this not any party's policy? (Obviously I know why - it's really a MRA movement but I don't get why any party dubious of self-ID - the Tories - doesn't opt for trans-specific solutions).

I live in Liverpool. The bullying behaviour in many local constituency Labour parties has been shocking. We have seen the loss of Louise Ellman, Luciana Berger ( Jewish MPS) and Frank Field ( always his own man and highly principled).

Old, hard leftists, militants and Trotskyites have been re-invigorated by the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, and are active in local constituency parties and council wards. They are aggressive and vindictive and intolerant of what they call 'the Blairites' and the moderates.

They, along with the young Momentum crowd have been active in trying to unseat many long standing, experienced MPs and councillors, replacing them with, often, very young candidates - or with candidates who represent woke/intersectionalist values - even when they are clearly not as capable as those they are placing.

Even if it weren't for Labour's policy on Self Id, to vote Labour ( as much as I'd like to) would be saying that the terrible experiences of those three lost MPs meant nothing, and were even acceptable or a price worth paying. Can't do that!

Those they are replacing