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

Thank you PJ for that point of view. I hope that spoiled ballots are noticed and people’s concerns are taken seriously.

If you think Labour or libdems won’t get a majority government, why is it so pressing now? Is it that if enough people spoil their ballot paper for that reason, policy will change? And if the Tories stay in power because people don’t vote for the alternatives, can we trust them to protect women’s rights, given that the latest changes have happened under their government?

Hi

For me it is more about making my tiny stand. I am a tribal Labour voter. I would say I am a socialist. I grew up staunchly red against a background of industrial action.

I have been told for years and years that the left will get round to women once all the heavy lifting is done. I watched women make the tea and 'man' the soup kitchens when I was little and they weren't even allowed into the back room at our working men's club. And now apparently they have forgotten what we are. Apparently that boy is a woman. Apparently I am a bigot. Apparently I can be bought with free broadband and something else shiny and poorly costed.

I can't vote for them. I can't spend all this energy on this and then vote for a party that doesn't even know what a woman is. I can't vote for a party that thinks it is socialist but can't do the most basic class analysis. The loathing I feel for Momentum is fairly close to the loathing I felt for Thatcher's Tories. I feel very sad about that but I don't really care about whether the spoilt vote 'counts' - it counts for me.

ShesDressed God, doesn’t that just sum it up Women are the bottom of the list until we just disappear.

I'm intending to write "as a woman this is the same as asking turkeys to vote for xmas"

And thanks as well for the answer. I think I’ve been so caught up in the evils of Brexit and austerity and NHS underfunding that it’s hard to see everything from all angles. I had been thinking that the most important thing would be to get rid of the Tory/Brexit/austerity damage then if subsequent governments pushed on with self id etc, we could push back, protest, fight against it at that point.

But it is possible that I’m giving too much credit to how much they would listen and what people could actually change

ShesDressedInBlackAgain same here. Dad was a coal miner and became a Labour councillor and mayor. My entire 70s/80s childhood was steeped in Labour politics, and I've voted for them in every election (except for the massive mistake I made that helped return that utter waste if womanhood, Lynne Featherstone). I was telling my children yesterday how my sisters and I did the "women's work" for my dad while he was campaigning. it was women who, during the strike in '83, made sure I had food and clothes. I have voted for them against my own financial interests, hoping they would fulfil their promises. I will vote for them no more.

I feel like I have been going out with a self absorbed twat for 30 years and he's been telling me he has very important things going on that need doing and I have been obediently waiting for the great man to save the world and have the time for me and now I find him in his office snuggling with his eighteen year old assistant and going 'Camilla has just had a bad break up and she needs a friend right now'.

She'sDressedInBlackAgain and others.

I can't vote for them. I can't spend all this energy on this and then vote for a party that doesn't even know what a woman is. I can't vote for a party that thinks it is socialist but can't do the most basic class analysis. The loathing I feel for Momentum is fairly close to the loathing I felt for Thatcher's Tories. I feel very sad about that but I don't really care about whether the spoilt vote 'counts' - it counts for me.

That's it for me, in a nutshell.

Nobody cares, in fact, nobody will even read them. This year’s candidates do not care at all about what voters think, much less so about what on voters do.

"I refer you to the extensive national coverage of spoiled ballots in the most recent elections held in this country."

Could you link that?

Because I can find only speculation based on the basic fact that spoiled votes exist

I think it is absolutely everyone's right to vote, not vote, spoil the ballot or whatever.

The real problem is that none of us actually have a vote of any meaning unless we live in one of the very view swing constituencies.

This is because FPTP disenfranchises most of us. My vote is pointless. Only one party has ever won a seat where I live.

Everyone forgets (which is convenient for the 2 main parties) that the pact the Lib Dems made with the Tories was to get the chance to put forward the option of PR.

Everyone remembers the Lib Dems selling out the students to try and get this through. But we the voters rejected it (yes I know it wasn't perfect but it was a step forward).

So although as I young person I loved the slogan whoever you vote for the Government get in, I know think that the reality is we get the Government we deserve. If you listen to any phone in programme or the BBC trying ever so hard to be in touch with "ordinary" people, we have all become so dumbed down by personality politics that it is possible to elect a complete buffoon and / or liar and people are proud of them representing their country (and I could be talking US or UK). Because they have a good "media" personality.

We are trapped not just by FPTP but by the degrading way the media persents and manipulates party politics.

There were a couple of articles (one in the Independent, and one syndicated round many local papers) about social media posts of spoiled papers.

No analysis of the numbers (spoiled as total of the whole, or published as proportion of the spoiled).

Overall less coverage than many other forms of social media activity.

And no official record made at the count, and no evidence-based analysis which would be the basis of policy consideration by any individual candidates or parties at either local ot national level.

re spoiling ballots:

It’s illegal to share a picture of a ballot paper under the Section 66 of the Representation of the People Act 1983, including your own.
metro.co.uk/2019/11/25/general-election-2019-polling-station-dos-and-donts-11205502/

But presumably if you blurred out the ballot number so you couldn't be identified how would they track you down.

My thought is it would have much more impact if everyone who has not voted / spolit there ballot paper sent the image of that ballot paper to the party they would have voted for to let them know they lost your vote.

(Be careful to wear gloves when handling the envelope and if your need to lick the flap to stick it down - dont! Avoid leaving DNA and apply moisture somehow else!)

You could also just email your local candidates and tell them that is what you'll be doing, as well as urging everyone you know to do the same. I've emailed mine to tell them why I am not voting for them.

I used to think PR was a good idea but now I see how prone to entryism the LDs and greens are I am vehemently against it.

No analysis of the numbers (spoiled as total of the whole, or published as proportion of the spoiled)

There would be no analysis because no- one analysed them in detail on the night (beyond checking in a close contest to make sure they could not be allocated)

Afterwards all ballot papers are retained and sealed and are no longer accessible to anyone without a court order.

There is also no analysis because the number of spoiled ballots in 2017 was 0.1% of ballots cast. In that 0.1% there will be any number of reasons , including sheer tin foil hattery, given for spoiling it along with the 25% of the 0.1% who voted for 2 or more candidates.

And yes PJs, coal mine's daughter here too.

Tbh the broadband thing has utterly enraged me too. We live in a very naice area. The fact that the Labour canvassers are offering us free broadband when there are people sleeping rough less than a mile away is just unbelievable.

Could you link that?

RTFT

I refer you to the extensive national coverage of spoiled ballots in the most recent elections held in this country

And I refer you to the fact the so called extensive spoiling of ballots was actually a minuscule proportion of votes cast and less than in previous elections. It was a non- story being spun.

So come on then, who should we be voting for to protect the rights of women and girls?

so called extensive spoiling of ballots was actually a minuscule proportion of votes cast and less than in previous elections. It was a non- story being spun.

And yet here are an awful lot of voters, all saying that we intend to do it in this election. And therefore, this time round it might very well be quite a significant story.

I have RTFT.

I am however on a knackered screen phone, and colour change for linnks doesn't always show well. I shall go back through earlier parts of the thread (though I note other comments since I posted, and it seems unlikely it's going to be useful after all), but if anyone is feeling kind, what is the time the post containing the link I sought?

Here's an idea. Print off the picture at the top of this thread, take a glue stick with you, and attach it to your ballot. It says everything. It will stand out from a scribbled on ballot. It could constitute a single uniform message that attracts the attention we want.

Oh gosh you got me bang to rights- I'm a TRA trying to make sure gender critical women don't protest by spoiling their votes.

That's rather an inflammatory comment. I have not suggested that as I'm sure you know, simply noting that although you say, 'do whatever you want' you have posted multiple times how you consider vote spoiling to be pointless. We get the message, thank you.

If you read the thread - and many others on the subject - you'll see that many of the posters have given years of service to political parties (mostly Labour but not always). They know how elections work because they've been there and done all the shit, drudge jobs. They've been at counts and they know there's no obligation to check spoilt ballots but that the cannier agents and candidates do so, especially if they're losing. But in any case, the reason they're doing it is because they're at the end of their tether. It's very sad.

Still waiting for the Oh So Wise posters who criticise ballot spoiling to tell those of us who wish to defend the fundamental rights of women which of the parties reflect our viewpoint.