Coordinating spoilt ballots

[Binglebong]

I know there is a thread about have you spoilt your ballot but this is slightly different.

I'm trying to hold my nose and vote for someone but there is not a single potential MP in my constituency who does not disgust me. I don't want to vote Reform or someone as a protest as it might be seen that they have more support than they do. So the liklihood is that I will spoil my vote.

I know spoilt votes only really get looked at if there is a huge number or if the vote is close. But just in case I was wondering if it is worth having the same thing written on all of them to show that it is a massive issue that is losing them votes. What would you suggest (if you think it is a good idea).
Respect my sex if you want my X is a good one but is it the best?

Wrong! I have worked counts, and they absolutely care especialy if the vote is close and theres enough of them.

You find it suprising? I find it even more suprising that you do. This 'single issue' informs all of life, every policy and area of actvity of half the population! Along with women and childrens safety. Maybe youre a man and if so that explains your lack of comprehension.
Though I hazard a guess if you are, that you would be screaming from the rooftops if this humiliation was happening to you.

What is it with this crowd, so quick to accuse people of being men.

I'm a woman. A natal woman, I've given birth and everything. I'm also a GC woman to boot.

I find the push to include men under the category of woman disturbing too. Not humiliating, I wouldn't say, but I agree that it should give us cause for alarm and that we should resist the change.

But I also care about many different things - cost of living, taxes, benefits, child poverty, and many more. I think one party does significantly better than the other on these issues.

"But I also care about many different things - cost of living, taxes, benefits, child poverty, and many more. I think one party does significantly better than the other on these issues."

@ColinMyWifeBridgerton we cannot protect the needs of the most vulnerable women in society if we are no longer allowed or able to say what a woman is. So this is not a single issue. Rather, it is a central issue that will have significant repercussions for everything else.

Think about women in the justice system. Women in rape or crisis shelters. Women and children in refuges. Women and children in hospitals and on wards. Women and children in changing rooms and toilets. And so on and on and on.

How can we legislate for any of your concerns if we as a society decide the very concept of a woman no longer exists in its current form? How do we organise our society? What happens to us? I will say it again-women's rights change like the tide. Just look at the USA.

If you're not worried then you're not paying attention.

I've said (repeatedly!) that I am worried. I am just not worried enough to not vote for a party that despite getting it wrong on this, does better in other areas.

I would imagine people suggested you are a man because telling women repeatedly what they should think despite being told they know does come across as mansplaining.

That's fine for you - as the saying goes, "Your mileage may vary" - other women have different red lines.

Ok this is just getting silly. You can read back on my posts and see for yourself that I've at no point told anyone what to think, or how to vote, or what to do. I've explained why despite being GC, I won't spoil my ballot.

Glad to have read this thread.

I'm spoiling now too, and feel relieved to have decided.

Will work on what to write but it will make the reason clear.

I wrote, "None of the above. I cannot vote for Tories, racists, or people who think a woman can have a penis."

@MissScarletInTheBallroom

That's nicely put.

"I've said (repeatedly!) that I am worried. I am just not worried enough to not vote for a party that despite getting it wrong on this, does better in other areas."

@ColinMyWifeBridgerton that's interesting because I would argue that that goes back to socialisation. Women are never important enough. There is always something more important than us. We are always the second class. And as I have said in a previous post, I find it so dehumanising.

To put it into context for me, I am a woman and an ethnic minority. The Labour Party could offer me the moon on a stick and as a woman I would still not vote for them because I cannot vote for a party that has fundamentally decided that my place on this planet as a woman is up for debate. In the same way that I would never vote for Reform or any other right wing party no matter what they offered because they are fundamentally racist.

I cannot in good conscience vote for a political party that is aiming to strip away the rights and protections of my people. No matter what they are offering.

If it wasn't you then I apologise buy you must admit we have been lectured and condescend on this thread.

Well said! And thank you for this thread. Grateful for the ideas and the solidarity

Binglebong · Today 21:01
I would imagine people suggested you are a man because telling women repeatedly what they should think despite being told they know does come across as mansplaining.”

Oh stop it. You just don’t like that lots of biological women disagree with you.

The scolders on this thread are REALLY tiresome. Many of us have patiently explained that we have given this a LOT of thought, have wrestled with our conscience and feel genuinely distressed that we don't feel, in good conscience that there is ANYONE we can vote for.We are not ' vain ', as some pp have said. I'm a lifelong Labour voter ( and I'm in a safe Labour seat ) and I've longed for a Labour victory for YEARS, but this current iteration, who are going to be DISASTROUS for women, are not the party that I grew up with.

As many pp have said, I didn't leave The Left, The Left left me.

And OP thank you for this thread, I've been honestly wrestling with this for weeks, this thread has really helped me confirm my decision. X

That mirrors where I am, exactly. Unfortunately. 😡

I'm definitely spoiling, and I know two other people who are doing the same. There is no one in my constituency I can support, simple as that. Really disappointing.

I've just voted and wrote none and woman = adult human female. First time in 35 years I've spoiled. I'm disappointed there's no party members here at the polling station and I've had no one round to the door.

@MurielThrockmorton I’m just off to do the same. Prediction here is a conservative win but lower majority.

You might if your local candidate had refused to meet with you on an issue that was very important to you, and if your campaign group had been referred to as a 'hate group' by that candidate, too.

Lots of Lefties ( I live in a Leftie city) seem to think it noble to vote for alternative candidates to Labour or even to spoil, on account of Starmer's treatment of Jeremy Corbyn and other Labour party members. Kier Starmer has been ruthless in seeking to silence and do away with any internal opposition or critique...for those at this sharp end spoiling is a perfectly valid thing to do - and which signals integrity.

Who would vote for someone who treated you that badly?

Yeah same result likely here @Didsomeonesaydogs - one of those constituencies where you could put a blue rosette on a donkey and it would get in. I've always voted Green before, I was active in the Green Party from 1989 but left a year or so ago. I know there's a lot of criticism around spoilt ballot papers, but it's just the decision that sits with me best.

I spoilt and wrote 'I stand with JK Rowling and Rosie Duffield.' Felt those two grabbed the headlines in the last week or so, so it was an okay way of getting the point across. Husband also spoilt, saying Labour don't care about women.
I'm gutted that I couldn't go and joyfully vote for Labour after 14 years of the Tories.

of course it's taking action: it is saying that you want a better quality of MP candidate.

Not voting? is apathy and you deserve the government that causes you most harm