5 ms·

You can just not vote. It has the same impact on the results of the election.

by dao- 7y ago

TheTrueTDF 7y ago
It's a lot less fun though
crispinb 7y ago
Not legally here (Aus) - we have compulsory voting.
NeedMoreTea 7y ago
Not always - spoiled ballots can sometimes count, or indicate growing dissent in society. Not voting can achieve neither. Here's a case from last week of a spoiled ballot giving someone a majority of one: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/03/ballot-paper-marked-brexit-win-tory-councillor https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/03/ballot-pape... Was that the result the voter intended? Probably not, but who knows? :)
- dao- 7y ago
  I don't understand your example. That ballot paper was counted as a Tory vote, i.e. not as spoiled.
  - ddebernardy 7y ago
    As I understood the story (the photo of the ballot that is sometimes circulated is just one taken from Twitter), the ballot had Brexit written all over it, and an arrow pointing at the Tory candidate's name, so ended up counting it as a Tory vote because of that.
  - C1sc0cat 7y ago
    That's what candidates do I recall a talk by a Labour Candidate where in his election arguing that a ballot with I vote for that bastard was for him. This was a constituency where the previous incumbent had had some problems with his younger GF
- bedobi 7y ago
  How is this individual vote any more or less significant to the outcome than all the others?
  - ddebernardy 7y ago
    The Tory candidate won with a majority of 1 vote.
scaryclam 7y ago
Actually, spoiled votes show how many voters turned up but did not like any of the candidates. It's a clear message to candidates that this is not voter apathy, the votes are there for the taking, but their policies and behaviors are not supported. Not bothering to show up at all doesn't give any clear message.
codedokode 7y ago
There is slight difference. First, the number of spoilt ballots is published. Second, sometimes in two-round elections, they can affect whether the candidate wins in the first round or not if it requires to get 50% of all votes including spoilt ballots.

You can just not vote. It has the same impact on the results of the election.

by dao- 7y ago

You can just not vote. It has the same impact on the results of the election.

TheTrueTDF 7y ago

It's a lot less fun though

crispinb 7y ago

Not legally here (Aus) - we have compulsory voting.

NeedMoreTea 7y ago

Not always - spoiled ballots can sometimes count, or indicate growing dissent in society. Not voting can achieve neither. Here's a case from last week of a spoiled ballot giving someone a majority of one: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/03/ballot-paper-marked-brexit-win-tory-councillor https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/03/ballot-pape... Was that the result the voter intended? Probably not, but who knows? :)

dao- 7y ago
I don't understand your example. That ballot paper was counted as a Tory vote, i.e. not as spoiled.
- ddebernardy 7y ago
  As I understood the story (the photo of the ballot that is sometimes circulated is just one taken from Twitter), the ballot had Brexit written all over it, and an arrow pointing at the Tory candidate's name, so ended up counting it as a Tory vote because of that.
- C1sc0cat 7y ago
  That's what candidates do I recall a talk by a Labour Candidate where in his election arguing that a ballot with I vote for that bastard was for him. This was a constituency where the previous incumbent had had some problems with his younger GF
bedobi 7y ago
How is this individual vote any more or less significant to the outcome than all the others?
- ddebernardy 7y ago
  The Tory candidate won with a majority of 1 vote.

scaryclam 7y ago

Actually, spoiled votes show how many voters turned up but did not like any of the candidates. It's a clear message to candidates that this is not voter apathy, the votes are there for the taking, but their policies and behaviors are not supported. Not bothering to show up at all doesn't give any clear message.

codedokode 7y ago

There is slight difference. First, the number of spoilt ballots is published. Second, sometimes in two-round elections, they can affect whether the candidate wins in the first round or not if it requires to get 50% of all votes including spoilt ballots.