"X" Marks The Spot

[rhythmaning]

The results of the Scottish elections are out.

It seems like an awful lot of people managed to mess up their ballot papers - though unlike me, they seem to have messed up the parliamentary ballot. (It was the council ballot I messed up. Twice.)

The number of "spoilt" ballot papers has soared - more than 100,000 spoilt papers were recorded, and excluded from the count.

According to the Scotsman, in the regional list the turnout was 1.9 million from an electorate of 3.9 million - just under 50%, then. (I am using the Scotsman's figures on the turnout because I couldn't find the figures anywhere on the web; and even then I had to add them up... which is why I used their figures from the regional list vote, because there are only eight regions to add up!)

That means that over 5% of the votes cast were rejected - a huge proportion, frankly. In some places up to 10% of votes were rejected, according to the Scotsman.

The Scotsman also explains the kind of "errors" on ballot sheets that caused them to be rejected. One of these was to only cast a vote for the regional list. Both the constituency and the regional votes were on the same ballot paper. Many of the small parties only put candidates up for the regional vote. If you wanted to support, say, the Green Party - or more or less any of the smaller parties - and couldn't bring yourself to vote for one of the larger parties in the constituency, then your vote would be declared void. This seems a travesty, and people are understandably pissed off about it. If you're interested, the graphic in the Scotsman that explains this is on page 5 of today's paper; I can't see it online.)

The overall outcome is quite curious, too: no two parties will be able to form a majority coalition in the Scottish parliament. This means that we may see the Conservatives supporting Labour-Lib Dem alliance to stop the SNP. I find this possibility very, very amusing!

Edit. There's something else interesting about the turnout figures. More or less across the board, the turnout was over 50%. Except for Glasgow - 43%, and Scotland South - a woeful 29%. I wonder why those south of the central belt are so loth to vote? I'd have guessed it was to do with the rural nature of the region - except that the Highlands and Islands achieved a 55% turnout.



...the fifth example down.

Comments

[matgb]

One of these was to only cast a vote for the regional list. Both the constituency and the regional votes were on the same ballot paper. Many of the small parties only put candidates up for the regional vote. If you wanted to support, say, the Green Party - or more or less any of the smaller parties - and couldn't bring yourself to vote for one of the larger parties in the constituency, then your vote would be declared void. This seems a travesty

Seems? It is, that's disgraceful, and definitely explains some of the loss of small party seats. Absolute disgrace, and I suspect there's grounds for a legal challenge from the smaller parties (especially Sheridan) right there and then. Ouch.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

And just so you know, I have now posted a scan of the article behind a cut on this post. In case you wanted to see it!

[matgb]

Thank you, and it's more than just see it myself, I think this story needs to be spread everywhere, it's just wrong. MMS is a system I dislike, but part of the reason to do it is that it allows for and encourages smaller parties to concentrate on the list vote; to discount them is utterly wrong, and to do it without warning people it could happen is just...

Words fail, which is why I'm not posting now.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

Should you want to grab the scan from flickr, I have now made it public. I kept it private since I don't like the idea of using their copyright material...

[beckerasopi.livejournal.com]

Vomiting slime-dog toy June am If you really think about it, do you need to see anymore of that TV show.

[matgb]

Oh good, another bloody spammer with a spam journal. Looks like the spambots have discovered how to work LJ :-(

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

And there I was thinking a vomiting dog was expressing it appreciation at my most lucid comments!

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

I can't honestly believe that a regional vote with no constituency vote is void - such a rule would be an obvious detriment to smaller parties. I looked through The Scotsman article and can't find where it says that - could you point us to it?

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

The issue about people casting only a single vote on the regional/constituency ballot paper was explained in a graphic that detailed the kind of errors that were being rejected; it accompanied the article I linked to in the print edition (page 5 of Saturday's paper), but I can't see it on the Scotsman's website.

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

Wow. That is really scandalous. Now I have to work out how to get a copy of The Scotsman in Shrewsbury. :-)

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

To save you the trouble, I have scanned the article and posted it behind a cut on this post.

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

Thank-you!

[rodolfoharrob.livejournal.com]

If you read the article about the US work ethic (This paper) you would all have zipped off to your places of labour,worked really really hard to earn mega bucks and have a heart attack.