Are you going to vote or spoil your paper?

[Green Web]

Plus it's not our fault people were more stupid back then, plus they may have also died so we can exercise our right - not to vote?

[epiphany]

Spoiling your paper is still a vote, it's just a vote against rather than for and carries just as much democratic weight as an X in a box next to a candidate.

[altus]

Only an ignorant jackass would spoil their paper. Millions of ordinary men and women gave their lives for the right to vote. Dont degrade it

In this country deliberately spoiling your ballot paper is sort of the recommended way to indicate you don't want any of the candidates - the spoiled papers are counted and sometimes even reported. It's a very poor compromise because it allows politicians to pretend that they weren't filled in properly rather than deal with the real issue that most people think all the candidates are useless.

 

We'd all much rather have a "None of the above" option on the paper but they won't give us that because they then might have to do something about it when "None of the above" won.

[Guest sibon]

I considered using the words "Paul Scriven" as the beginning of a sentence, but I couldn't decide which expletives to use.

 

In the end I decided to vote for the only candidate who has engaged with me. And the only one that I vaguely agree with.

[Harleyman]

Why not spoil your ballot if you disagree with every candidate standing?

 

Why would you vote for someone you didn't agree with just because you had the right to vote? The right to vote is also the right to spoil your ballot paper or abstain altogether.

 

Seems to me that spoiling a paper is making a statement that's a pointless waste of time. The ballot counters dont care and certainly not the politicians.

 

Those who do vote will have at least tried to get the government they voted for. Those who dont bother get the government they deserve and have no grounds to bitch and moan afterwards

[Harleyman]

In this country deliberately spoiling your ballot paper is sort of the recommended way to indicate you don't want any of the candidates - the spoiled papers are counted and sometimes even reported. It's a very poor compromise because it allows politicians to pretend that they weren't filled in properly rather than deal with the real issue that most people think all the candidates are useless.

 

We'd all much rather have a "None of the above" option on the paper but they won't give us that because they then might have to do something about it when "None of the above" won.

 

Such as what?

[Chris_Sleeps]

I stuck a bogie next to Labour. What will that count as?

[Harleyman]

Plus it's not our fault people were more stupid back then, plus they may have also died so we can exercise our right - not to vote?

 

I dont know if they were stupid or not but you can give them some credit for the fact that you live in a democracy and not some shythole where you could end up in a "re-education" camp learning the hard way that disageeing with the "national interest" is a very anti-social way to behave.

 

I'm sure the blind Chinese dissident who is currently on the run from the government for criticising the national policy of forced birth control would be more than glad to swap places with you anyday.

[rubydazzler]

In this country deliberately spoiling your ballot paper is sort of the recommended way to indicate you don't want any of the candidates - i. the spoiled papers are counted and sometimes even reported. It's a very poor compromise because it allows politicians to pretend that they weren't filled in properly rather than deal with the real issue that most people think all the candidates are useless.

 

We'd all much rather have a "None of the above" option on the paper but they won't give us that because ii. they then might have to do something about it when "None of the above" won.

I think you're a bit deluded about spoilt ballot papers. No-one cares about them, they just get put in a pile at one side, the candidates and agents look at them before the count is declared, agree they don't count towards anyone's total and that's it. They are kept with the other ballot papers, but they don't count for anything.

 

Who is the 'they' that might have to do something about it? If 'none of the above' had the most votes, the Returning Officer would just declare the nomination with the next most votes as the winner. Or in an extreme case, the election would have to be re-run until there was a proper result.

[denlin]

I think you're a bit deluded about spoilt ballot papers. No-one cares about them, they just get put in a pile at one side, the candidates and agents look at them before the count is declared, agree they don't count towards anyone's total and that's it. They are kept with the other ballot papers, but they don't count for anything.

 

Who is the 'they' that might have to do something about it? If 'none of the above' had the most votes, the Returning Officer would just declare the nomination with the next most votes as the winner. Or in an extreme case, the election would have to be re-run until there was a proper result.

 

The vote is a precious thing, people died to get votes for everybody. You usually find that those who moan most about politicians are the ones who can't be bothered to vote. I am of an age when the year of lowering the age to 18 was introduced in the year I was 18 and I have voted in every election since