Have you/will you spoil your ballot?

[CervixSampler]

Today I have for the first time ever. I know I'll be flamed by some but the available choices don't know what a woman is. I had fun with my pencil but it sits uneasy with me.

I did too.

Sorry grammar
Nc too but fairly regular on here.

What a complete waste. Your ballot will not be read or passed on, it's simply a waste of time. You may as well not have turned up!

I technically didn't. I did use a female symbol rather than an X though, and wrote "woman = adult human female" in big writing. Made me feel better, and if any GC women are involved in the count they will see that they are not alone.

ReginaaPhalange other threads have said this is not true.

I voted for our Tory councillor but he is excellent. A very active member of the community.

I spoiled my ballot because I have a hard-won right to vote and I will never, ever not use my ballot.

And I will not vote for parties who take women's votes for granted while not giving a shit about them.

So it was the only option.

@CervixSampler oh because it's on the internet then it must be true

Trust me, from experience, I know they will not be read or passed on (at least in my area).

It is a complete waste of time and does not get your point across.

I have been debating what to do and I still cannot decide. Vote for the least worst, spoilt my paper, not turn up at all. I've never not voted. I've never spoilt my ballot paper. I've never felt so opposed to choosing a candidate.

I used to count votes in both national and local elections.
No one does anything with spoiled ballots. They go in a pile while that ward is being counted.
They are accounted for in the paperwork as a total and then all ballots are sealed up in case of later recounts or legal challenges.
That's all.

[quote ReginaaPhalange]@CervixSampler oh because it's on the internet then it must be true

Trust me, from experience, I know they will not be read or passed on (at least in my area).

It is a complete waste of time and does not get your point across.[/quote]
Can you explain how voting for a pro-TWAW candidate would get my point across better?

And if I choose to waste my time I don't see how that's anyone else's business. Wait until you hear about my origami hobby.

Utterly pointless. I’d rather use my vote to good use instead of at pointlessly wasting it.

I feel exactly the same as CaptainPigeon

@CaptainPigeon I love origami!!! 😁😁

Didn't go out today, no point really.
Nobody really cares why your ballot was spoiled.

@CaptainPigeon

I spoiled my ballot because I have a hard-won right to vote and I will never, ever not use my ballot.

And I will not vote for parties who take women's votes for granted while not giving a shit about them.

So it was the only option.

This.

Personally I would rather spoil my ballot than not turn out at all. That may seem a waste of time to some but plenty of things we do are and, to me, it matters. I did manage to vote today but another time if I felt no one deserved my vote I would still show up to demonstrate I am willing to vote for a good candidate. It might not be interpreted that way but I would still rather do it. The whole thing takes less than half an hour; I watched enough episodes of Hollyoaks in my youth to guarantee I've wasted time on worse things.

I've supervised counting teams at many counts. If there are candidates or agents observing, I would hold up spoiled ballots as they arise for them to see why they were being removed and put into the spoiled pile. So it is possible it may be seen, and of course the number spoiled is recorded. Behind the scenes, count supervisors may have occasionally had a peep at each other's spoiled if there was something amusing to be seen, and had to suppress a smirk if showing a candidate something with 'fuck off your all cunts' scrawled on it, but I couldn't possibly comment

And yet someone I know, someone who has counted ballot papers for years, says that every spoiled ballot paper is looked through with the candidates or their representatives to see if any of them can actually be counted as a vote for someone. It's done quickly, but they are seen — and if they all mention sex-not-gender then they will send a message.

I voted Tory for the first time ever today. I didn't want to spoil my vote because women suffered to win us the right to have them. So I played the system. We live in an area with a big Labour majority and there wasn't an SDP or CP alternative. One extra vote for the Conservatives, one less for Labour. Labour are unlikely to lose but if enough of us have done something similar it may slash the majority to the point where they have to take notice.

I spoiled my constituency vote and voted on the list.

I didn't spoil it for recognition or a pat on the back.

I spoiled it because it is my right to vote and not one of the candidates represents my views. This is the first time in my life I have spoiled a vote.

I voted last week by postal vote and it was a really hard choice. In the end I voted for the Labour candidate for metro mayor because he seemed to have a strong interest and lots of experience in child safeguarding. I voted for the green candidate for PCC but it was a hard choice because her answer to the question "what is a woman?" was one of the most offensive and stupid I've come across. But from reading about her and looking at her twitter it seemed obvious that her main goal as PCC would be to improve things for the black community, and so on that basis I decided to vote for her despite her horrible and offensive definition of "woman". It was very tough deciding who to vote for though and I did a hell of a lot of research into all the candidates. I thought about spoiling my ballot but at the end of the day someone is going to win with or without my vote so I may as well try to vote for someone who represents some of my beliefs even if we are horribly opposed in other areas. I don't blame anyone for spoiling their ballot though, even if it doesn't make a difference I still think its better than staying at home and not bothering to vote.

No I voted Conservatives, I've written to my MP and had responses, he's also spoken up in Parliament about issues that matter to me so he's gotten my vote.

I don't get why people get so wound up by those who choose to spoil ballot papers, they may/may not be read but when women fought so hard to be able to even get near a voting booth I totally understand why people choose to spoil and actually mark something on that ballot paper rather than not bother turning up at all- the political situation in this country is pretty dire right now and there is literally no one I would vote for. Even my past tactic of voting for the least bad is out the window as they are all a disgrace in my view.

Save the ire for people who choose to elect Bozo purely on the basis that he 'seems like a laugh'.

@GertrudeKerfuffle

I've supervised counting teams at many counts. If there are candidates or agents observing, I would hold up spoiled ballots as they arise for them to see why they were being removed and put into the spoiled pile. So it is possible it may be seen, and of course the number spoiled is recorded. Behind the scenes, count supervisors may have occasionally had a peep at each other's spoiled if there was something amusing to be seen, and had to suppress a smirk if showing a candidate something with 'fuck off your all cunts' scrawled on it, but I couldn't possibly comment

That's my experience too. The spoilt ballots are shown to the agents/candidates.

'Even my past tactic of voting for the least bad is out the window as they are all a disgrace in my view.'

Yep, ditto. Anyone who finds Boris Johnson anything other than appalling needs to have a serious conversation with themselves, and probably shouldn't be allowed to use sharp objects