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27th Feb 2016

PIC: Is this spoiled vote in Cavan a complete waste of time, or a valid form of protest?

Carl Kinsella

What’s the point in doing this?

We won’t get all up on our sanctimonious high-horse and ask if it was for this that people fought and died for Irish independence, but we still don’t understand why you’d waste the time of going to a polling station only to totally blow off your right to franchise.

Somebody in Cavan has done exactly that, expressing zero preference for any of the candidates in their constituency – instead choosing to deliver a rather self-evident message to whoever it is ended up counting (or not counting, rather) the vote today.

However, the reason for this spoiled ballot is likely that the constituency lines have recently been redrawn, putting 36 of Cavan’s electoral divisions in The Sligo-Leitrim constituency. So what do you think? Is spoiling your vote a complete waste of time or a valid form of protest?

https://twitter.com/PeterMurtagh/status/703514059753299968

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