If you put numbers on your ballot they will throw your vote away
I cannot put into words how pissed off I am with the FPTP electoral system which requires me to choose between wasting my vote on the candidate I like, or casting it for the second most disagreeable candidate on the ballot sheet knowing that it will be counted as an endorsement for every rotten policy they stand for.
For me, the Alternative Vote referendum was a brief ray of hope before it was buried under a land-fill of lies — not helped by the mind-blowing incompetence of the Yes campaign whose organizers and paymasters (who chose those organizers) should hunted down and pilloried.
I am so disappointed.
I thought to myself yesterday: “Sod this. The FPTP system offends me so much I am just going to vote as though I had an alternative vote by numbering my preferences on the ballot form.”
Then I’m going down to the overnight Count to see what the Government does with my vote.
I thought I was going to be the only fool in the country to carry out such a stupid idea.
Turns out loads of people had done it. There were ballots with numbers on them in the spoil tray for every single ward across Liverpool City. I don’t doubt it was the same everywhere else in the country.
None of the pro-AV campaigners noticed this until I dragged them over to see. None of the party workers cared either, because if a vote doesn’t count it doesn’t matter to them.
But I do care. Because I did it and I’m going to carry on doing it.
My vote never counts in my particular ward or Parliamentary constituency anyway — ever — because it is a safe-as-a-brick-privvy Labour seat. The only election where my vote ever mattered was in the European Parliamentary election, because it was proportional.
What does the law say?
Well, the Electoral Commission — among all the other stuff they don’t do — produces a plethora of large-font guidebooks that lays out the rules.
Here is the page from Dealing with doubtful ballot papers — Supporting local government elections in England and Wales:
The ruling is Cornwell v. Marshall [1977] 75 LGR 676 DC from the following list of precedence.
As said, this is enacted by Rule 47(1)(b), Schedule 2 of The Local Elections (Principal Areas) (England and Wales) Rules 2006.
Oh well. So it’s case closed then. Because thirty-five years ago some old dude in a wig with a wooden hammer said if you dared put numbers on your ballot sheet then they were going to throw it in the bin. Even though your first preference vote “One” was absolutely clear.
But wait!
What the heck is this from Page 6 of Dealing with doubtful ballot papers — Supporting UK Parliamentary elections, then?
As so it says in Rule 58(5), Schedule 2 of The Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) Order 2007:
(5) Where different numbers have been written by a voter on a ballot paper apparently as a vote in a sequential order of preference, and the ballot would otherwise be rejected under this rule, the ballot shall be treated as a vote for the candidate (or in the case of a regional ballot paper, for the individual candidate or registered party) against whom the number 1 appears.
So, what gives? The court case simply doesn’t matter. To count your votes all they have to do is insert this sentence into the Rules for England, and it’s done.
But they’re not going to even consider something so simple as that.
Because the deal is if you don’t cooperate fully with their crappy electoral system that enables those elected to misappropriate your tactical vote as an endorsement for their agenda, then you can piss right off.
And that’s how it goes.
PS: Keep uploading or sending in those leaflets to ElectionLeaflets.org. No honest person will regret having them for future reference.
I’m also pro-AV, but the way I see it, what we have isn’t *their* crappy electoral system, it’s *our* crappy electoral system. And until *we* wise up and change it, then *we* get what *we* deserve.
When seemingly intelligent people like you, who genuinely want AV, do stupid things like fill out a ballot incorrectly, it seems to me that it just sticks us with FPTP for that much longer. (As a protest vote, it seems incredibly abusive and anti-social behaviour, as the only people who have to deal with your protest ballot are unpaid volunteers that aren’t in any better position than you to do anything about the system, but still have to go through the extra time and effort to categorize it.)
Perhaps for the next FPTP/AV election, there needs to be an AV campaign stressing the importance of people filling out their ballot correctly?
I saw a three of these in Kensington and Fairfield – because I was the agent for the Labour Party candidate and examined every single spoilt ballot very closely. I argued very strongly with the returning officer that it was clear who the voter intended to support but was unsuccessful. By all means criticise the public for not supporting AV in the referendum, but it is unfair to suggest that party workers weren’t bothered. I am always unhappy about spoilt votes and take it very seriously indeed. Far more serious were the large number of postal votes rejected because the accompanying certificate had not been signed. That is where the campaign for education should really be placed.
FPTP, while being a bad system, works out worse than it needs to because the media persuade people to treat it as a short term matter, and misinforms people about wasted votes.
In the short term every vote is a wasted vote unless the person you vote for gets in by only one vote.
In the long term every vote makes a difference. The pundits, and tactical voters, judge who is likely to get in in their ward or constituency, by paying attention to how many votes each candidate got last time. This is why you should always vote for the best candidate. Even with FPTP, if everyone did this we’d be better governed.