Consider plumping for Jim Gavin: It beats spoiling a vote if you want to send a message of change to the major political parties. Photograph: Cillian Sherlock/ PA Wire
As one of the least inspiring presidential elections limps to a close, a significant number of people still feel they have no one for whom they want to vote.
While spoiling your vote as a protest is tempting, it is also pointless. Spoiled votes are rarely subjected to systematic analysis, much less any kind of count showing how many votes were spoiled by writing in the name of a candidate.
The idea that a large number of spoiled votes will be embarrassing to the Government assumes that politicians have a capacity for embarrassment.
The Fine Gael response to a trouncing in the last two referendums was not to be embarrassed, much less to learn anything.
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