12 May 2021
Spoilt Ballots Are A Scandal That Needs Urgent Attention Say Greens
The Green Party’s candidate for Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner has branded the high number of spoilt ballots “a scandal” after 7005 ballots were rejected in the most recent election.
Martin Schmierer claimed that the spoilt ballots showed not enough had been done to inform voters how the process worked. He said:
“Seeing the number of ballots that had been rejected, it was clear that something had gone wrong with the system. A lot of people had left the ballot empty or had written that they disagreed with the position of Police and Crime Commissioner – a view I certainly understand and even agree with, given that I oppose the politicisation of the emergency services. However, it was also clear that thousands of people had put two first preference votes, which invalidated their choice entirely. It is a scandal that the authorities haven’t explained how the system should work effectively enough, even though this is the third time these elections have taken place. Rectifying this needs urgent attention.”
Police and Crime Commissioners are elected using what is known as a supplementary voting system. In these elections, voters select a first preference and then a second preference in a separate column. If no candidate gets over 50% of the first preference votes, the top two candidates continue to a run-off and all other candidates are eliminated, with the second preference votes for the eliminated candidates redistributed to the top two candidates.
In the most recent Norfolk PCC elections, it was the Conservatives and Labour who went into a run-off, with the Conservative candidate, Mr Orpen-Smellie, receiving a final tally of 119,994 votes compared to the Labour candidate’s 69,552.
Martin Schmierer continued:
“I don’t want to get to a position in three years’ time, when these elections happen again, that we end up with thousands more rejected votes. I would prefer it if we introduced a fairer voting system at all levels of government – one that is based on proportional representation for both local elections and general elections.”
The high proportion of rejected votes was not unique to Norfolk, with a record 114,000 “spoilt ballots” having also been recorded for the London Mayoral election. [1]
Further information from:
Councillor Martin Schmierer e. m.schmierer@cllr.norwich.gov.uk
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