Citizen Linus

Posted Sep 15, 2010 16:18 UTC (Wed) by sorpigal (guest, #36106)
In reply to: Citizen Linus by deepfire
Parent article: Citizen Linus

A blank ballot in a compulsory system provides the same input as a non-vote in a non-compulsory system, so there is no gain.

Citizen Linus

Posted Sep 16, 2010 14:34 UTC (Thu) by cesarb (subscriber, #6266) [Link] (2 responses)

On Brazil's electronic vote machines (voting is compulsory here, and almost all of it on these machines), there is even an explicit (and quite big, though all the buttons on these machines are big) "blank vote" button. You can also cast a null/invalid vote, but it is a bit more hidden; simply type any number which does not match a party or candidate (like "99" or "00") and it will be accepted as a null/invalid vote.

Citizen Linus

Posted Sep 16, 2010 18:24 UTC (Thu) by Velmont (guest, #46433) [Link] (1 responses)

Huh? Why would you ever want to do a null vote instead of a blank vote? I can't really see the difference here.

Anyway, I think mandatory voting is quite cool. And I hope lots would actually vote blank then, that would be a REAL kick in the ass of the politicians and the system.

Our system in Norway is quite good and democratic, although it's not good enough, it's too strategic (although not as much as some other countries *cough*UK *cough*US).

Citizen Linus

Posted Sep 16, 2010 20:33 UTC (Thu) by cesarb (subscriber, #6266) [Link]

> Why would you ever want to do a null vote instead of a blank vote?

No idea (other than the number of keypress "beeps" from the machine is then the same as a valid vote). I hear from time to time rumors that it makes a difference when counting the votes, but never saw any reliable information about whether its true or which difference it makes.

I think it was made that way because back when you had paper ballots you could either leave it blank or invalidate it (marking multiple candidates, for instance), and they wanted to keep the same possibilities on the electronic voting machines.