It is a way of showing that the proposals are not suitable, but that the will to express oneself is there. During the previous presidential election, in 2017, 1.78% of voters cast a blank ballot in the ballot box in the first round, i.e. 659,997 French people. They were 3,021,499 to vote blank in the second round, or 8.52%. A record.
If this form of expression therefore appeals to a significant – and growing – part of voters, it is not considered as a vote cast. This is, moreover, a question that often comes up in the democratic debate. Among the presidential candidates, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Anne Hidalgo, Jean Lassalle and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan are in favor of its recognition. Nathalie Arthaud had also positioned herself in this direction in 2017. There is even a “White Vote Party”, which advocates this option for the presidential election of 2022.
Blank vote different from invalid vote
A few countries take the blank vote into account, such as Sweden, which recognizes it only for referendums, or Colombia, where an election is declared invalid if the blank ballots represent the absolute majority of the votes.
Attention, the blank vote is different from the null vote. These two types of expression have also been counted separately since April 2014. The presidential election of 2022 will therefore only be the second during which the distinction will be made. But other elections offer a point of comparison. During the 2017 legislative elections, for example, 6.99% of voters voted blank. For the second round of municipal elections in 2020, they were only 1.67%.
According to the electoral code, the vote is considered blank when the envelope is empty or contains white paper, the same size as the traditional ballot papers of the candidates. In offices where voting is done electronically, machines are provided to allow the recording of a blank vote. If, on the other hand, an envelope contains an annotated or torn ballot, contains several ballots, or anything other than a ballot, it is considered a spoiled vote.
Find from Sunday from 8 p.m., the results of the Presidential 2022.