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?

Ok there is almost zero chance my vote will arrive on time but it is in the post. I was quoted 60€ for express delivery and even then it might not have arrived until Friday.

It isn't a waste of time. Staying at home and foing nothing is a waste of time.

Spoilt ballots are counted, recorded and announced. They have to be by law.

Their record is an important way of measuring the mood of the electorate. Imagine if 40% of all votes cast were spoilt. That would send a clear message of voter dissatisfaction.

@Vegemiteandhoneyontoast it really bothers me that these threads always descend like this. Especially the rhetoric around perceived levels of importance of issues. Are we not human also? Do we not have needs? Can we not ask for help? It's genuinely dehumanising to be told time and time again that I cannot place any value in myself and my needs as I am not as important as issue X or group Y.

@MoiraPose Very well said!

In every single election, every single revolution, every single instance of civil disobedience, women are told to wait. To ignore their own needs and to do "what must be done for the greater good." We are told that once X or Y has been achieved, we will be remembered and rewarded for our patience. That the fight is bigger and more important than our rights and our needs. That we must wait and hold the line and be good girls because we cannot prioritise our needs right now. But that day will come soon. Very, very soon.

Of course, this time we're not even being told that. Labour have made it very clear that that day will never come. Women won't be later rewarded by holding our noses and voting for them. No, our rights and needs don't matter at all, not by comparison to the desires of men with ladyfeels and ladydicks. And we're phobic bigots if we dare object. Even those who try to be more diplomatic use the obfuscating language of 'safe spaces' when asked about single sex ones, as if we're too stupid to notice.

No party deserves my vote.

They are counted and recorded as 'rejected' but they are definitely recorded according to the Electoral Commission.
The number is read out too with all the other results.

Just vote reform. they support everything you say you do.

My vote is exactly that; MY vote. I can choose to lend it to any candidate on the ballot paper for any reason. That is MY choice. I can spoil my ballot paper in any way that I choose. That is MY choice. I can simply not cast a vote if I so choose. That is MY choice.

It is MY choice to do whatever I want with MY vote.

Well said.

This. People who ascribe class on the basis of mindsets instead of economic status clearly have not read Marx.

THIS!!👏👏

This. This. This. All day long.
Respect my sex if you want my X.

Christ. Fuck that!

🤞it gets on a plane tonight or tomorrow and then gets priority delivery once in the UK!

No, staying at home suggests you’re not concerned. Spoiling your ballot paper sends a different message.

It would not be impossible for all spoilt ballots to be read and noted. But even if they’re not, they tell politicians how many people find all current options unacceptable.

Also, from another thread: DramaLlamaBangBang · 07/06/2024 07:48
I did the count for the 2019 election. Spoilt ballot papers are put to one side. All candidates have to read the spoilt ballot papers and agree that they are a genuine spoilt ballot, and not a vote for any party. They have to be recorded as a spoilt ballot.

I think I will write "protect single-sex spaces" in big capitals, across all the boxes.

Because to me, spaces, i.e. changing rooms, loos, hospitals, counselling rooms, etc. are more important than sport.

Can I suggest spaces and services? It's one of the things that has bothered me about this "women's spaces" discourse, that apart from the fudging of the single sex bit, there's no mention of single sex services. Not only do I want to be able to use a female only changing room, but if I need intimate care I want that to be female only too.

I do think that spoiling your ballot is substantively different to just not voting, and it’s a legitimate choice.
Having said that, since what is written on them is not noted or seen by anyone except the poll worker, be prepared for the public perception and punditry to assume that a lot of the spoilt ballots might be related to policy on Palestine. (Which a lot of other spoilt ballots may be.)

I want to keep it as short as possible, no more than four words, so that the poor council worker who glances at it at 4am in the morning may just read it before tossing it in the 'spoiled' pile.
If it can't be read in a single glance, it may as well be a full paragraph, or a scribble. Both would fail to convey any message.

Some good thinking there. Could a member of the press ask to see the spoilt ballots? I'm just thinking that if there are a lot it could make a good story for them.

No, ballot papers are not open to public inspection by the press or anyone else. I’m pretty glad this is the case tbh.

www.electoralcommission.org.uk/guidance-candidates-and-agents-local-authority-mayoral-elections-england/after-election/what-happens-paperwork-after-result-announced

It would risk the secrecy of the vote if they were.

On my local area. A number of Remainers here didn’t bother to vote, and others spoiled their ballot by writing idiot slogans. As a consequence, the vote in my area, which was predicted to be Remain, was actually Leave because the Leave voters turned out and didn’t spoil their ballots.

Never underestimate what crap we could get. Every vote counts - even if it’s used to thwart a bad candidate/party rather than an enthusiastic vote in support of somebody.

Those who want to change the status quo have a lot more incentive to vote than those who are OK with it, and I certainly think that applied in the Brexit ref. But, as PP have said, a GE is a different situation; not all votes are equal, far from it. I can't believe there'll be any surprises in my constituency, and Labour will be just fine without my vote..

Posted a list today of women (and a few men) fighting for women's rights and needing money to do so.

To vote for any party that makes that necessary is to betray those who have fought and those still fighting.

If you want something short for your spoilt ballot and dont want to support party of women I still recommend none of the above.

In what circumstances are we allowed to moan?