Have you spoilt your ballot? A thread to indicate numbers

[Chrysanthemum5]

Hi all
I've just posted my vote. I live in a constituency where the incumbent has a big majority, and will win again. He is the only one people have posters up for, the only one really sending out leaflets etc everyone else has given up. He is Labour, and full on TWAW, insists there is no conflict with women's rights and refused to talk to me about this issue. The other candidates are the usual mix of Tory and Greens with a sprinkling of independents and Reform.

Politically speaking I am Labour, and always have been. But their attitude towards the rights of women is shocking. To be fair I grew up in a family heavily involved in unions so I always knew the unions were misogynistic but Labour seemed ok. Not any more.

If you have spoilt your ballot it would be interesting to know so that we can see (and maybe politicians can see) what women are thinking

There are 2 alternatives for people, like me, who feel they can't vote for any of the options available. Either we don't vote at all, or we spoil our ballot. if we don't vote we just look disengaged. If we spoil there is a chance that someone may see why, and if a sufficient number of people spoil - as the total number of spoilt ballots is recorded - any large deviation from the usual number would raise questions as to why a significant number of people felt engaged enough with democracy to cast a vote, but not represented by the choices available. That is the decision people are making.

And for someone who 'doesn't care' you're spending a lot of time telling people why they're wrong

I know spoilt votes don't really get looked at in detail - but they may get more attention if there is an increase in numbers. And I started this thread because the political parties do watch Mumsnet and maybe they will see that women are spoiling votes over this issues. They may not, and it was pointless - but I'm not voting for anyone that doesn't respect my rights as a woman

Yep, my town is similar to yours @YouJustDoYou but with the SDP and Christian People's Alliance as bonus, pointless options.

for someone who 'doesn't care' you're spending a lot of time telling people why they're wrong

We get this a lot on here.

Equally the decrease in vote share even if the same person is returned, is of note. As is the turnout level which I suspect will be low.

I will be, no option here. I can’t give my vote to any candidates or party and will be telling them exactly why on my ballot paper.

I refuse to endorse the loss of woman’s and girls rights, endorsement of child abuse and support for an actual genocide in our time.

I’m staggered that there is not at least one party I can support.

I care about democracy. i don't care if people choose to spoil their ballots or not. I care that people who do choose to do so are fully informed abut what that means

The other reason why spoiling your ballot is preferable to not voting at all is that it gets recorded that you've voted.

Political parties have access to demographic information on voters. There's a reason that the conservatives and labour are falling over themselves to preserve the triple lock on pensions. Its because older voters are much more likely to vote than younger people.

If huge numbers of women choose not to vote at all in this election, that automatically makes your voice less important to the parties in future elections. So even if you spoil you ballot, please please go and vote.

There are always spoilt ballots. Lots of people vote for more than one candidate, that is one of the most common ones. Just be aware, yours is going to count as the same as theirs. Do it if you feel it is your best option. But just understand what you are doing, that is all

Fuck, no. I haven't voted yet, but literally nothing is more important than getting these blowhard, lying, coffer-grabbing morons out of office.

So it's a two party system and we're only "allowed" to vote for one of them.

And people wonder why turnout is low.

If you care about democracy then you should be glad that people in an imperfect system - one with no 'none of the above' option - are going for the least worst choice. Spoiling rather than staying at home.

I'm with you on this 100%.

There's about 7 million floating voters in this country. If they all use their votes (instead of not voting or spoiling them). They can influence the results of the election

I've done the election counts for years for in my area. Just to say there is really no point in putting stickers or writing things, or even drawing a massive cock on your ballot paper. The only people that will see it will be someone like me, and another person checking. We don't take a note of what is on spoiled papers or tell anyone what was on them and we have no influence. They are just bundled up and passed to the officer in charge who won't look at them either.

Apparently spoiled ballots can count for something if enough people spoil them in the same way. There is a campaign for voters to write “NONE” across their ballot in an attempt to get a “none of the above” tick box on ballots. If enough people make a protest they can’t just continue to ignore it can they? I’m not sure if I’m going to spoil mine this time around. There’s a chance of a libdem TRA getting in where I live and I really don’t want that. I think Labour are going to win a large majority so they’ll be able to do as much harm as they like without support from the libdems. I think it’ll probably be beneficial to keep a few Tories in opposition. A massive Labour landslide won’t be great for women.

https://www.votenone.org.uk

I never thought anything other than the number of spoiled votes would be noted. A massive increase in the number of spoiled votes would send a very strong message to all parties that they need to up their game and listen to the electorate.
So telling people that messages won't be read is one thing, but telling them it's pointless spoiling their ballot paper as an earlier pp did, (even suggesting it was 'not the right thing to do') - is quite another and not acceptable.

I have nobody to vote for here. I feel bitter that I have been disenfranchised. I don't know what to do. DH and DD feel exactly the same.

Apparently as several PP has said above, you must vote for the Heavenly Righteous Party. Anything else, whether voting for a Wrong Party, or abstaining, or (worst of all) spoiling your ballot, is Very Very Bad.*

*Oh, sorry, not important at all, but lots of energy will be spent posting about it.

Maybe email him one last time, explaining that to him. If "I will not vote for a man who ignores my genuine and polite questions" doesn't get a response he's deliberately ignoring you and obviously DOESN'T want your vote.

Unfortunately "None of the Above" would win every election by a landslide.

The stickers are about me, though, about saying what matters to me........Spoiled ballots are counted and announced. I wouldn't not turn up at all. I think it is important to register some kind of view. The reason I'm spoiling is because I have tried for six years to get through to my candidate/MP but she refuses to meet her constituents on this issue. In fact she is a trans activist.

Any ideas what to write? Something short and clear, as well as ‘none’

Thanks. I didn't know this. I was wondering how people who are spoiling their ballot were planning to do so.

I had planned to spoil my ballot - it would've been the first time in decades of voting. Fortunately I didn’t have to do that after all - I (and the rest of my household) have already voted for Julia Long (Party of Women).