Spoilt ballot not counted

[ChickenPieBumFace]

I took the stand yesterday to spoil my ballot, based on self ID and women's rights. Looking online this morning in my constituency, there are no spoilt ballots. It has been categorised differently. I am fuming. There was no ambiguity. how many more protest votes have been Mis categorised deliberately?

Thanks Twanwan good to read that these were noticed. Worth doing I think. Still looking for results which include the full figures.and many thanks to my reluctant proxy who did it for me anyway.

I read that there was a very specific way to spoil your vote. It's not counted until the word None is written on it and a line crossing out all of the check boxes. Papers with other words are thrown away

None of the above is correct. I can't be bothered correcting it as have done so several times.

There were nearly 200 spoilt or discounted ballots in my constituency. It wouldn't have made any difference but if it's similar numbers around the country it adds up.

It was worth it for me personally as I'm not giving my vote to any of those cowards, liars or traitors of women, it was better than sitting at home, at least I turned up.

It categorically will not have been counted as a vote for Andy. The Electoral Commission provides clear guidance on how these votes are categorised as per the poster above.

176 rejected ballots in my constituency, one of them mine.

I did it because it was the best choice out of a bunch of shitty options.

I was never going to vote tory or brexit anyway.
I might have held my nose and voted labour or libdem if it had meant keeping a tory out but I live in a very safe constituency so there was nothing tactical to be gained.
I was never going to just not turn up.

Holy - what was it in 2017?

In my area it roughly doubled, and is a few hundred. Isn’t a significant % but definitely significant number imho. I don’t know if parties consider doubling of spoilt ballots to be a enough to make them think (very safe seat here too, no the numbers of spoilt ballots). I was wondering if other areas saw similar or better increases, and if the areas where labour lost seats saw these increases in particular, and if spoilt ballots are commonly a stable figure over other general elections. I guess I was thinking maybe my area doubling isn’t a big deal, but if all areas are increasing spoilt ballots (doubling or more) and especially if that’s true of areas labour lost seats, then maybe that would be a trend that some candidates might listen to. I’m not sure if there’s any likelihood of an analysis on this anywhere? I doubt it’s commonly analysed by journos but I wonder if there are any gc women/groups like fpfw looking at it? Like how it got tweeted as few yrs back the actual breakdown and analysis of figures of transwomen murdered and it showed that transing actually reduced the risk of being murdered.

I was never going to just not turn up.
Hear hear!

I remember my DM saying sadly how most people voted against someone, rather than positively for a candidate. In other words, there was always someone you disagreed with so much, that you would vote for the opposition just to stop them getting in.

Yesterday, I disagreed with all of them so much - not just about this issue - that there was no-one I could hold my nose for.

These are the numbers for the last 3 general elections in my constituency. It took a bit of hunting on the Election section of the council website, but it should all be available to you. They also had a front page, so to speak, that just gave the number of votes per named candidate, the % turnout, and the size of the electorate. But they are obliged to, and do, publish the details. My council doesn't seem to offer the breakdown within the categories mentioned earlier in the thread.

And yes, personally, it was worth spoiling, as none of the 3 candidates were representing trustworthy political parties. My vote, my choice.

Used to work at counts

So did I.

that would of been counted for ‘Andy’ on the bases that there was a cross in the name box.

Don't be ridiculous.

Still not up in my area.

LonginesPrime
A spoilt ballot wouldn't be counted - they're discarded.

Why do you and other try and perpetuate this myth?

They are counted and called at the end of the count, they always have been.

The wankers politicians may not take any notice of them, but they have to be added to the total to ensure that no election fraud has taken place.

i.e the number of voters equals the number of ballots counted.

It really is simple to understand.

Ok, I've found previous years, so it will follow eventually. I'd be interested to see whether it's went up this year.

Used to work at counts, that would of been counted for ‘Andy’ on the bases that there was a cross in the name box.

This worries me... do counters actually do things like this? It's clear as day that it's a spoiled paper with a vote for none. It worries me that people may be politically motivated to allocate to a preferred candidate even when it's a spoiled paper.

Or are you just telling fibs?

Any mark that seems to support a candidate can be counted as a vote which includes smiley faces, a comment, message or drawing.

Used to work at counts, that would of been counted for ‘Andy’ on the bases that there was a cross in the name box

No it would not.

twanwan3 Thank you. That's better than what I had thought. Makes sense though. If I was a candidate, I'd want to look.

I spoilt my ballot too, and my constituency has well over 200 spoilt ballots. I assume the number of spoilt ballots is counted separately to those who have voted for a party. So it doesn’t reduce the percentages and for each party?

That would not have counted as a vote for Andy. Twanwan is absolutely correct - I have worked at polling stations and the count.
The spoilt ballot papers are taken to a separate table and then each candidate or their agent looks at them.
Primarily it is to establish if it could be counted as a vote for them. But in doing that, they will have seen every single spoilt ballot paper and those who wrote clearly why they were spoiling will have had their words seen.
I spoilt mine - I clearly wrote that I could not in good conscience vote for a lying adulterer with no moral compass nor could I give my vote to any party who did not understand the definition of woman and which was determined to erode women's rights.

I dunno where this idea that counters bin things or spoilers ballots are chucked comes from. There were 4 stages at our count last night: count number of postal ballots and ensure they’re all there; same for polling station votes; sorting into piles by party; counting piles. Spoilt were separated at stage 3 and the returning officer, candidates and party members poured over them - to make sure they’re genuinely spoilt.

There was a lot of checking! Things do not get randomly binned on one persons day so - there were no bins in the count area and nowhere you could hide something. You are watched the whole time.

www.electoralcommission.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf_file/UKPE-doubtfuls-booklet.pdf

useful info

"I clearly wrote that I could not in good conscience vote for a lying adulterer with no moral compass nor could I give my vote to any party who did not understand the definition of woman and which was determined to erode women's rights."

@theunknownknown I would have written exactly the same, had I had smaller writing and not left it so late I was in a hurry! Very articulate, well done!

I took the stand yesterday to spoil my ballot, based on self ID and women's rights. Looking online this morning in my constituency, there are no spoilt ballots. It has been categorised differently. I am fuming. There was no ambiguity. how many more protest votes have been Mis categorised deliberately?

Perhaps you should have done some research before making your grand gesture? Your post shows a fundamental misconception of what a "spoilt ballot" is.

All ballot papers are counted. This is because the number of ballots in the box is known and when the tellers count them the total they reach, including rejected papers, must match that.

If a ballot cannot clearly and unequivocally be allocated to a candidate it is rejected and put in a category of its own. A paper will be rejected for reasons such as voting for 2 or more candidates; voting for none or marking it in such a way that the voter can be identified. The returning officers will check that the tellers have made the correct call.

At the end of the count the returning officers announce the total number of ballots cast, the total for each candidate and the total number of rejected votes. Some , but not all, returning officers also break down the rejected votes giving the numbers for each specific reason for rejection.

If the result is very close the candidates will want to review the rejected votes to make sure they cannot be allocated.

Constituencies in the UK range from around 56,000 to 72,000 of electorates. On average 0.1 to 0.3% of votes are rejected in every election giving a range of 56 (0.1% in a 56,000 constituency to 216 (0.3% in one of 72,000). These figures are minuscule and beyond the announcement made by the returning officers on the night aren't reported on news sites because they are irrelevant.

Have you read the thread, Philbricks?

ON which website can I find the full breakdown of votes for my constituency? I’ve tried googling but only brings up newspaper results, is there an official website that breaks down the results for each candidate plus uncounted votes?

I spoilt my paper and the total number of spoils is 304 which is 0.45% of the electorate - so I think they will have been scrutinised! Also I told the LD bloke I was spoiling and wasn't the only woman doing so

If you look at your constituency's website the info should be on there (or maybe not til next week depending on how busy/cross/distracted they were on Friday )

Mine looks like this:
www.scambs.gov.uk/elections/elections-2019/