Moose Jaw Forum

jay45 wrote:The thing, lets say that the Palliser riding was won by only a few votes, and there were more spoiled ballots-- the thing that happens next is that there is a by-election... and how many will bother to get and vote? By-elections are notorious for the low voter turnout... so just because someone is trying to "make a statement" the Palliser riding will go 6 to 8 months without representation-- spoiling your ballot is just a dumb thing to do, period.

How could any number of spoiled ballots cause a by-election? Someone please explain that to me.

jay45 wrote:

Priapus wrote:

jay45 wrote:The thing, lets say that the Palliser riding was won by only a few votes, and there were more spoiled ballots-- the thing that happens next is that there is a by-election... and how many will bother to get and vote? By-elections are notorious for the low voter turnout... so just because someone is trying to "make a statement" the Palliser riding will go 6 to 8 months without representation-- spoiling your ballot is just a dumb thing to do, period.

How could any number of spoiled ballots cause a by-election? Someone please explain that to me.

When the number of spoiled ballots is greater than the margin of victory... sorry, I thought I explained that earlier

What do you think happens when the number of spoiled ballots is greater than the margin of victory??? a by-election? if that is what you are claiming, please show me where that exists in law.

jay45 wrote:

Priapus wrote:What do you think happens when the number of spoiled ballots is greater than the margin of victory??? a by-election? if that is what you are claiming, please show me where that exists in law.

OK, my mistake.. a judicial recount is usually the procedure, if an application for a recount is granted.

a recount is likely to be requested any time the vote is close, or if there is some kind of anomoly (such as a huge number of spoiled ballots). But simply having more spoiled ballots than the difference in votes between the two front runners would not cause a byelection.

jay45 wrote:The thing, lets say that the Palliser riding was won by only a few votes, and there were more spoiled ballots-- the thing that happens next is that there is a by-election... and how many will bother to get and vote? By-elections are notorious for the low voter turnout... so just because someone is trying to "make a statement" the Palliser riding will go 6 to 8 months without representation-- spoiling your ballot is just a dumb thing to do, period.

I know of no such law.

It might force a recount and closer look at the ballots but in the end a spoiled ballot is just that a spoiled ballot.
It does not count for anyone and does not change anything.

Now a spoiled ballot might be a crime, but that is an individual's choice. But hey maybe my native tongue is French and there was no French assistance available at the advance poll I was at....

Years ago Campaign Life even went so far as to tell people to write "I vote Pro-Life" on your ballot if there was no pro-life candidate out there - telling people to intentionally spoil their ballot.