Anti-conscription group reissues ‘none of the above’ ballot call
Bermudians Against the Draft (BAD) have again called for an extra box labelled “none of the above” to be added to the general election ballot paper.The campaign group made the request of Premier Paula Cox last year.Leader Larry Marshall said at that time that since neither of Bermuda’s main political parties backs the campaign to end military conscription, young black men feel marginalised by the political process.The group hopes an extra box would allow those backing the campaign to participate in the democratic process, while at the same time signalling a lack of confidence in the available candidates.According to Mr Marshall, Ms Cox did not reply to two messages he previously sent her. In a follow-up e-mail on Monday, he referred her to an unscientific poll recently run by this newspaper on our website.“In addition to the reasons outlined in the original e-mail there is another that can be included in the equation.“That is the results of a recent online poll taken by The Royal Gazette.“Out of 734 seven hundred respondents, 14 percent indicated they would be abstaining from voting at the next election whenever it’s held.“An additional seven percent indicated they would actually be spoiling their ballots,” he wrote.Mr Marshall estimated that that number of spoiled ballots could equate to around 2,500 non-votes at the next election.“That is an incredible number and would be unprecedented. This suggests that many Bermudians are dissatisfied with both the present government as well as the entire political process in Bermuda,” he claimed.“Rather then having them put in a position where they must spoil the ballot to be heard we feel that a ‘none of the above’ would provide a legitimate way for this significant percentage of voters to legitimately express their disapproval of all candidates. And after all that is what democracy is all about.”According to Mr Marshall, he had not heard back from Ms Cox as of mid-afternoon yesterday. The Royal Gazette contacted her spokesman via e-mail and telephone to invite her to comment, but he did not respond.