Bethlehem May I
Madrid (EFE).- In the November 2019 general elections, almost 250,000 voters deposited invalid votes at the polls. Or, what is the same: one out of every 100 people who went to the polling stations deposited a vote that was declared invalid and, therefore, had no effect on the results of the elections.
In the latest CIS barometer, 1.6% of those surveyed answered that they will opt for this vote consciously.
These ballots, whether cast intentionally or accidentally, are as if they never existed. They are not counted.
In the event that they are voluntary, invalid votes express discontent with the electoral system or the political class, but the reality is that this gesture remains that and has no significance in the scrutiny.
What is a null vote
The General Electoral Regime Law establishes that the vote cast in an envelope or with a ballot paper inside that is different from the official model is null and void.
Therefore, only the envelopes and ballots that we find at polling stations or those that have arrived at our homes together with the electoral propaganda can be used.
Other actions that lead to consider a vote invalid are:
- The envelope and the ballot are torn or altered.
- Names have been crossed out or added to the electoral list, or their order has been altered.
- A ballot has been inserted without its corresponding envelope.
- Several different ballots are placed in the same envelope. In cases where there is more than one ballot, it is considered valid and will count as a single vote if both are the same. If they are different, it is declared null because the will of the voter cannot be elucidated.
- The same thing happens in Senate elections: if a voter marks more names on a ballot paper than correspond to his constituency, his vote will be declared invalid.
Are they good for something?
Invalid votes do not count for the distribution of seats, they do not benefit or harm any party. Since they are not valid votes, they do not influence the minimum a party needs to get a seat either.
And yet, according to the CIS barometer of May 2023, 1.6% of voters plan to cast a null vote in the ballot box in the general elections on July 23. In the 2019 elections there were a total of 249,487 null votes.
The invalid vote is considered a “hooligan” vote because in most cases it is conscious. From slices of chorizo wrapped in a PP ballot to a photograph of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un proposing him as a deputy, these are votes that were an anecdote on his day, but forgotten the next morning.