Sir, – I feel compelled to speak out against the growing “spoil my vote” movement that’s being celebrated on social media and elsewhere. Not for any particular political reason but to advocate for those who don’t find it easy to exercise their right to vote.
I work in adult literacy, on a project that encourages people to exercise their right to vote. To many, voting may seem like a small, almost throwaway act.
But for the learners I work with, it is anything but. It takes courage to walk into a polling station for the first time, to find the right desk, to read the ballot paper under the watchful eyes of strangers, to steady yourself enough to make a choice. For some, casting a vote is not routine but a victory.
We must remember that voting was not gifted to us. In history, countless people were denied it; women, Black South Africans under apartheid and still today, millions across the world live under regimes where they are silenced, denied any say in how they are governed.
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Generations protested so that we could hold this small piece of paper in our hands.
When you spoil your vote, that struggle is undermined. Your ballot is put into a rejected pile, gathering dust in a sports hall count centre while the sun goes down and the valid votes are counted all around it.
If you believe none of the options are good enough, vote for the one who is closest to your values. As Ed Koch, the former mayor of New York, said: “If you agree with me on nine out of 12 issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 issues, see a psychiatrist.”
A spoiled ballot is in fact silence dressed up as action. – Yours, etc,
FIONA O’CONNOR,
Dun Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.
