At 09:16 26/04/05 +0100, Ruth Balogh wrote:
>A number of people have recently told me they intend to spoil their
>ballot papers in the General Election as they feel they are offered
>no real choice in their particular constituency, but nevertheless
>wish to take part as a voter.
>My question is this: do spoiled papers count in the official "voter
>turnout" figures?
Yes, at least in terms of the results announced on 'election night'. The
turnout represents the number of voting papers received; the full
breakdown of results includes, as well as figures for each of the
candidates, a figure for 'spoiled papers' - and all of the figures
(including 'spoiled') total to the turnought.
As for what 'turnout' figures politicians quote, goodness only knows!
I've always been of the view that there ought to be a 'Don't know' or 'I
cannot choose' option on the ballot papers. With probably increasing
numbers of potential voters feeling the way you describe, I imagine that
more of these would be prepared to actually 'caste a vote' (and therefore
'could be counted') if there was such an explicit option, since many
probably regard deliberately 'spoiling' a ballot paper as being in some
senses 'naughty'.
Kinde Regards,
John
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