With the August 15 Independence referendum approaching, cries of `Vote yes,' `Vote no,' and `Abstain' are ringing around the Island. But some Bermudians dislike all three options. Having reported on the "abstain'' option last Tuesday, The Royal Gazette today continues its series of articles leading up to the referendum by looking at another option -- the `spoiled' ballot.

Tomorrow: the judiciary and other Government appointments.

Thinking of spoiling your ballot in the August 15 Independence referendum? Feel free, but you will be making an honest mistake, not a political statement.

A "spoiled ballot,'' explained Parliamentary Registrar Mrs. Marlene Christopher, is one an elector has botched up accidentally and taken back to the deputy returning officer in return for a new unmarked ballot. The accidentally spoiled ballots are placed in a separate envelope and counted at the end of the night.

What is generally thought of as a spoiled ballot -- like writing "Not under Swan'' across the choices on referendum day -- would actually be recorded as a rejected ballot, Mrs. Christopher said.

Rejected ballots, which are also separately tallied, include ballots which are intentionally marked incorrectly and ones on which voters make honest mistakes which they fail to notice before dropping the ballots in the box.

Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul was actually talking about rejecting -- not spoiling -- ballots when he spoke out in the House of Assembly recently against the Progressive Labour Party's referendum "abstain campaign.'' "I am asking the Opposition to encourage Bermudians to vote and if they want to abstain they can just put an X through the whole ballot and spoil it,'' Dr.

Saul said.

"This would show the number of concerns for the Opposition party, and the Opposition would then see how solid their support is and how successful their campaign has been.'' Opposition Leader Mr. Frederick Wade has rejected that call and continues to ask voters to abstain, prompting charges from Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan that he does not trust his supporters in the privacy of the polling booth. Mr.

Wade says that with Government having no position for or against Independence, his party does not recognise the referendum as a legitimate means of deciding the issue and does not want to participate, even through a form of active protest.

Still, a larger than usual number of ballots may be rejected in Bermuda's Independence referendum on August 15. They could reflect widely-voiced frustration and confusion over the Independence stances taken by the two main political parties and their leaders.

Rejected ballots could also reflect voting by PLP supporters who are either unhappy with Mr. Wade's call for a boycott, or are feeling intense pressure from employers and others to turn out to vote.

Asked whether he would rather see supporters vote `yes' or `no' if they went to the polls despite the boycott call, Mr. Wade said they should leave their ballots blank.

If a ballot was taken into the polling booth and left blank when placed in the ballot box, it would be counted as a rejected ballot, the Parliamentary Registrar said.

Some jurisdictions, like Ontario, provide for "declined ballots,'' which are counted separately, but Mrs. Christopher said Bermuda does not.

When voters decline ballots, they appear at the table where the deputy returning officer and poll clerks are, identify themselves, have their names struck off the voters' list, and are handed ballots. But the elector, without leaving the table, indicates: "I decline to vote.'' The deputy returning officer retrieves the ballot, writes "declined'' on the back, and places it in a separate envelope for later counting. Declined ballots count towards the total turn-out.

Federal elections in Canada do not provide for declined ballots, an Elections Canada spokesman said. If an elector declined a ballot as outlined above, the blank ballot would be placed in the ballot box and later counted as a rejected ballot, Mr. John Enright said. Once again, it would count toward the voter turn-out.

But in Bermuda, an elector who declined a ballot "wouldn't be regarded as having voted, that's for sure,'' Mrs. Christopher said.

Since the elector's name would have been struck off the list when they received the ballot, "we would probably just make a note on there to say the person hasn't voted,'' she said.

And since the returned ballot would still be blank, it would likely be given to another elector.