Best ballot paper

[ewx]

Best ballot paper, as described by one of Cambridge's independent candidates:

Counting took a long time partly because the spoilt ballot papers of each ward were examined painstakingly ward by ward - I did get the best paper though - entries of unhappy faces in each box except mine which had a smiley face, universally judged to be the best paper :o)

Comments

[gerald_duck]

I thought the actual test for whether a not a ballot paper was considered spoiled was to decide if the voter had indicated a clear preference. But they don't tell people this, because it would only encourage borderline behaviour.

A line of frownies with one smiley is a preference; might it even be considered a clear preference?

(Probably not at 5am, when all concerned are fed up and want to go home.)

[mtbc100.livejournal.com]

Yes. I'm surprised that it was considered spoilt, to be honest. Worthy of especial thinking, perhaps, but no worse than that.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Given Graham says he "did get" it I'm not sure it was considered spoilt in the end (and from his description I'd personally think it should have been considered clear).

[mtbc100.livejournal.com]

Ah, good, thanks for pointing that out. (-:

[ali-in-london.livejournal.com]

Ahh, when I read the article the first time around I thought that the smiley ballot paper was being grouped in the set of spoiled ballot papers, and so the "best paper" meant the best out of the painstakingly examined spoiled ballot papers, rather than the best out of all the papers.