Are you going to vote or spoil your paper?

[onewheeldave]

Oh really? So a Labour candidate gets 10,300 votes, the Conservative gets 8,300 votes and there were 3,000 spoiled votes counted. What the hell use is that to anybody but a giant waste of time?

 

It only indicates that a percentage of the voters were disenchanted and in the grand or order of things who gives a damn?

 

The Labour candidiate takes his seat and the business of politics go on. The spoiled votes go into the shredder and the spoiled voters live to bitch and moan another day

 

It indicates that 21,600 of the public cast their vote in the way they chose to. it also provides the conservatives (and every other party aspiring to power) the opportunity to reflect the fact that 1 in 7 voters are highly disenchanted with the system as it stands.

[Harleyman]

Much smaller cost to have relection and have someone half decent, instead of the corrupt naff cllr's and MP's which we have in office now.

 

I'm sure that most are not corrupt. To say they're all corrupt only indicates an anarchisitic frame of mind along with delusional/ paranoidal tendencies

 

And who is someone "half decent" anyway? How would you go about finding someone "half decent" and on what basis.

 

That someone "half decent" might just turn into the biggest grafter of all once he or she gets elected. You really are a naive soul.

[onewheeldave]

There seems to be some confusion over what a spoiled ballot actually represents.

 

Some people think it's a protest, it might be to you but it's certainly not counted as one.

 

I just posted this over in the none of the above thread but I think it's worth quoting hereSo all you people who made a protest by spoiling your ballots, you wasted your time.

 

Which is precisely why it's better to submit a blank slip.

 

details here-

 

http://www.blankvote.org.uk/blank_votes_count.html

[Green Web]

I'm sure that most are not corrupt. To say they're all corrupt only indicates an anarchisitic frame of mind along with delusional/ paranoidal tendencies

 

And who is someone "half decent" anyway? How would you go about finding someone "half decent" and on what basis.

 

That someone "half decent" might just turn into the biggest grafter of all once he or she gets elected. You really are a naive soul.

 

Well if you believe that most of our MP's and Cllr's never lie, scam us for every penny they can, say anything just for a taste of power then it's you who is the delusional naive soul.

 

MP's need us more than we need them.

[Harleyman]

It indicates that 21,600 of the public cast their vote in the way they chose to. it also provides the conservatives (and every other party aspiring to power) the opportunity to reflect the fact that 1 in 7 voters are highly disenchanted with the system as it stands.

 

To quote Abe Lincoln "You can please some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time" words uttered over 150 years ago.

 

There have been and always will be voters who are just plain P****d off with all politicians because the pols cannot implement every idealisitic idea they believe in. A more mature voter realizes that in a democracy it takes a majority of votes to pass legislation in parliament and there has to be some wheeling and dealing between the party in power and the opposition to get these votes. You want and need a meaningful measure of support from the opposition? They are prepared to sacrifice something and expect a sacrifice in return. There's nothing free in this world.

[redrobbo]

I voted last week .... with my postal vote.

[esme]

Which is precisely why it's better to submit a blank slip.

 

details here-

 

http://www.blankvote.org.uk/blank_votes_count.html

 

hmm, interesting, I still think they'll be counted as spoiled as they lack an official mark, but just to be sure I've sent another email to the Electoral Commission to find out, I'll post the reply when I get one.

[Hairyloon]

hmm, interesting, I still think they'll be counted as spoiled as they lack an official mark, but just to be sure I've sent another email to the Electoral Commission to find out, I'll post the reply when I get one.

 

I think the official mark is the franking done by the poll clerk, not the cross put by the voter.

I wonder how many blank/spoiled papers it needs to get any reaction.

[Harleyman]

Well if you believe that most of our MP's and Cllr's never lie, scam us for every penny they can, say anything just for a taste of power then it's you who is the delusional naive soul.

 

MP's need us more than we need them.

 

Try living in a country absent of any government or with several factions competing for power with none of them holding a majority. Take a trip to Somalia and get an education

 

We do need politicians and governments and all politicians do spout the BS now and again.

Your local MP might just say he'll create a zillion jobs for Sheffielders but when it comes down to getting them he'll find that he'll have competition from Nottingham and Leeds who want the XYZ Mega Company to locate to their cities instead. Politicians are humans not magicians with magic wands. They have to live with the hard realities and do the best they can with the tools at hand.

[esme]

I think the official mark is the franking done by the poll clerk, not the cross put by the voter.

I wonder how many blank/spoiled papers it needs to get any reaction.

The 2009 response did say

A) Want of official mark (not the unique identifying mark)

So it's debatable, is the "official mark" the one you make or is that the "unique identifying mark" or is one of them the franking or is it something else, I'll wait for the reply.