spoiled ballot
Rejected election paper
A spoiled ballot is a vote that cannot be counted because it was marked incorrectly, damaged, or filled out in a way that makes the voter's intent unclear.
Ballots may be spoiled by marking multiple candidates for a single office, writing outside designated areas, or defacing the paper.
Some voters deliberately spoil their ballots as a form of protest: The spoiled ballot rate jumped after both candidates were implicated in scandals.
- invalidWithout legal force
- null and voidWithout legal effect
- voidWithout legal effect
- rejectedRefused or turned away
- voting boothPrivate space for ballots
crossed out · crossed off · defaced · protest vote · election · write in · polling station · election day · polling day · unmarked · overvote · undervote · disqualified · null · hanging chad · pencil · vote count · paper
- votingvote, voters, voter, polls, candidates
- votesvote, yea, nay, aye, yes vote
- ballots
- election problemsmiscount, overvote, undervote, voter fraud, double voting
- electionsvoter registration, candidates, polls, election day, voters
- election resultsvictory, defeat, winner, loser, win