Fun and games with ballot papers

[LMcD]

If, like me, you really can't bring yourself to vote for any of the candidates in your constituency, why not decorate your ballot paper with some attractive images or inspiring thoughts? I propose to divert the tellers with a few lines from Heine's 'Lorelei' which, I'm proud to say, I can still recite some 50+ years after first reading that fine poem. Those first few lines accurately sum up my feelings about the situation, and it should prove possible to find somebody to translate them if necessary without suspending the count. Mind you, they could save time in this constituency by weighing, rather than counting, the votes

When asked, by a friend of mine who strongly disapproves of people who don't participate in elections, I shall be able to look her in the eye and say 'Yes, I filled in my ballot paper', and we can thus remain friends.

[jayne lee wilson]

Why not just vote tactically to try to achieve the result you desire? Or your 2nd or 3rd choice?
Be pragmatic, not too idealistic - go for least worst, the only practical realisable politics is always a compromise anyway...(why do you think we're in such a mess now? Too much ranting inflexible extremism....).

For me it is simply - whichever vote keeps out the Tory and/or the Brexit Candidate or Party.... the danger is, the one swings behind the other, you have a worryingly large Tory majority..... surely we need to stop that at all costs?

So think about UK and its future, so potentially damaging to so many, before you, er, "decorate" your ballot paper...

Try to think of others and their lives afterward....
The politics and governing of UK stopped being fun & games a long time ago! So think self-sacrificially if it helps to make your vote count...

[LMcD]

Why not just vote tactically to try to achieve the result you desire? Or your 2nd or 3rd choice?
Be pragmatic, not too idealistic - go for least worst, the only practical realisable politics is always a compromise anyway....

For me it is simply - whichever vote keeps out the Tory and/or the Brexit Candidate or Party.... the danger is, the one swings behind the other, you have a worryingly large Tory majority..... surely we need to stop that at all costs?

So think about UK and its future, so potentially damaging to so many, before you, er, "decorate" your ballot paper...

Try to think of others and their lives afterward....

I'm not sure how to vote tactically in a seat where the Conservative candidate is defending a 58% share of the vote and a majority of some 16000. I gather one can 'swap' votes with somebody in another constituency, but don't know how to go about it.

[oddoneout]

I'm not sure how to vote tactically in a seat where the Conservative candidate is defending a 58% share of the vote and a majority of some 16000. I gather one can 'swap' votes with somebody in another constituency, but don't know how to go about it.

That's the kind of numbers I face as well, so I have to take the view that I will just have my vote recorded as 'not Con' by choosing another party's candidate. I'm hoping the Greens will put someone forward, at the moment the alternatives are Lib Dem and Labour.

[ardcarp]

I propose to divert the tellers with a few lines from Heine's 'Lorelei' which, I'm proud to say, I can still recite some 50+ years after first reading that fine poem.

I'm hugely impressed. I doubt the tellers will be. The pressure they're under to stick their bits of paper on the right pile means that anything that isn't a X will be dumped without so much as a glance. Such a shame, 'cos I could do the whole Rime of the Ancient Mariner.....

[muzzer]

My MP has always been perfectly good for the constituency but should on no account be allowed any wider influence, in my opinion. And with 70% or so of the vote, has nothing to fear nor gain from me. I will watch the events of the doubtless inglorious 12th in, I fear, abject horror.

[teamsaint]

Vote least bad.
It is the only way now.

And that means the most likely winner who isn’t a tory.
The continual trashing of Corbyn in our media is a national disgrace. And the liberal media, ( including the BBC with its blatantly dishonest “ back to 1970s style government spending” line, ) must share the blame.

[LMcD]

Vote least bad.
It is the only way now.

And that means the most likely winner who isn’t a tory.
The continual trashing of Corbyn in our media is a national disgrace. And the liberal media, ( including the BBC with its blatantly dishonest “ back to 1970s style government spending” line, ) must share the blame.

Suffolk Coastal 2017 result:
Conservative 33713
Labour 17701
Lib Dem 4048
Green 1802
Independent 810
Any advice?

The former Brexit candidate is standing as an Independent Brexit candidate.

[teamsaint]

Suffolk Coastal 2017 result:
Conservative 33713
Labour 17701
Lib Dem 4048
Green 1802
Independent 810
Any advice?

The former Brexit candidate is standing as an Independent Brexit candidate.

Vote Labour and hope something nice happens? ( as I will have to do for the lib dems in my area, which will take quite a bit of nose holding ).

Ok, so the line, oft repeated by the BBC and elsewhere , that increased spending plans will take us back to levels of public spending last seen in the 70’s, ( which of course means under Labour) turns out to be a bit of a lie, really.

Because if you take the last five full years under Labour in the 70s, and the first full five years under the tories in the 80s, guess what ? Public spending averaged out exactly the same , at 48%.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/apr/25/uk-public-spending-1963

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OJrUcDV0vxhB3JYLc01O2u9agmL0EG8-aTRfm2_JdxU/htmlview

[Edgy 2]

There should be a ‘none of the above’ tick box at the bottom of the ballot form

[Serial_Apologist]

Is this what people mean when they talk about living in desirable areas?

[MrGongGong]

Suffolk Coastal 2017 result:
Conservative 33713
Labour 17701
Lib Dem 4048
Green 1802
Independent 810
Any advice?

The former Brexit candidate is standing as an Independent Brexit candidate.

Don't bother
Similar to where I live
I'm not going to (yet again) see a vote AGAINST taken as an endorsement of things I don't agree with.

Sadly the leader of the Labour parties track record on the EU is significant IMV

[LMcD]

( as I will have to do for the lib dems in my area, which will take quite a bit of nose holding ).

Ok, so the line, oft repeated by the BBC and elsewhere , that increased spending plans will take us back to levels of public spending last seen in the 70’s, ( which of course means under Labour) turns out to be a bit of a lie, really.

Because if you take the last five full years under Labour in the 70s, and the first full five years under the tories in the 80s, guess what ? Public spending averaged out exactly the same , at 48%.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/apr/25/uk-public-spending-1963

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets..._JdxU/htmlview

Even if I thought Labour had the remotest chance of winning this seat, how would I know whether a vote for their candidate was a vote to remain or not?

[MrGongGong]

Even if I thought Labour had the remotest chance of winning this seat, how would I know whether a vote for their candidate was a vote to remain or not?

Quite, you have no idea
and "Labour Leave" is still strong (along with LFOI)

In spite of what we are being told this election IS about Brexit, nothing else.
Yes, the other things are vitally important BUT you don't create a fairer society by walking away from the collaborations that enable us to prosper.

[gradus]

Not voting is an odd way of signifying disagreement. A vote for a candidate unlikely to win is not wasted but a lawful means of dissent and it is odd to reject it whilst arguing for dissent by other means.