Believe it or not, after the parties have expended so much effort in this campaign, so many photo opportunities (did you like the PM better in the one with the avocado or the glass of whisky?) and in the case of Ed Davey, so much dignity, there are still lots of people who do not know which way to vote.
At least one in eight are still considering who to opt for, according to one estimate. That includes about two million who voted Tory last time and are now tossing coins to decide which way they go now.
In recent general elections, about two-thirds of us vote; a third do not. This time round, the turnout may be lower — if you know there’s a landslide coming, why bother? But it is at least possible that no-shows may be animated by antipathy to the options on offer.
The trouble about spoiling the ballot paper is that it always sounds as if it’s ... incompetence in placing your X
A Tory party whose big idea is to ban smoking? As for Sir Keir Starmer, he may talk about restoring hope to the nation, but does anyone feel a stirring about the glad, confident morning ahead when it’s enunciated in his distinctive diction?
One option is to give serious thought to Count Binface or the smaller parties (the SDP, the Workers’ Party et al). Another is to vote on the basis of a single issue, against assisted suicide, say. The third is to spoil the ballot, as Tom Newton Dunn said he would in this paper.
But the trouble about spoiling the ballot paper is that it always sounds as if it’s not a considered choice so much as incompetence in placing your X. What you actually want to suggest is that no reasonably sentient voter should be faced with such a mediocre choice. What is needed therefore is that principled option: none of the above (NOTA).
It is an increasingly attractive option across the West. In the second round of the French elections, Emmanuel Macron is suggesting that the electorate should vote against the National Rally no matter what, so Commies should vote for staid Republicans and vice versa. NOTA would be rather attractive there. As for the US election, I rest my case.
None of the above is not a passive choice; it is a refusal to go for the least worst option. Granted there is a smorgasbord of smaller parties in most areas, but voters may be underwhelmed by them all. In that case, they too should have a box to tick on the ballot paper. And what if NOTA were to come top of the poll, a not inconceivable outcome in some places? The candidate with the most votes would be elected, but in the humiliating consciousness that he didn’t top the beauty parade.
Millions of people are unenthused by the options on Thursday. They should have somewhere to go. Bring on NOTA!
