None of the Above
Encyclopedia : N : NO : NON : None of the Above
None of the Above (NOTA) is a ballot choice in some jurisdictions or organizations, placed so as to allow the voter to indicate his disapproval with all of the candidates in any voting system.
Entities which include "None of the Above" on ballots as standard procedure include the United States Libertarian Party, the Green Party, the U.S. state of Nevada ("none of these candidates"), Russia and the Ukraine ("Against all"), and Spain (votos en blanco).
When "None of the Above" is listed on a ballot, there is the theoretical possibility of NOTA receiving a majority of the vote cast. In such a case, a variety of formal procedures may be invoked, including having the office remain vacant, having the office filled by appointment, re-opening nominations or beginning the election process again (in a body operating under parliamentary procedure). In Nevada, the actual candidate with the greatest number of votes assumes office regardless of how many votes "None of the Above" gets. Thus "None of the Above" acts purely as a repository for protest votes.
The Green Party of California included NOTA in its original (1991) bylaws, in order to offer voters a choice of rejecting all candidates presented. After one round of successful elections in which a candidate in southern California and all gubernatorial candidates were retired after the primary by NOTA, a lawsuit promulgated by the California Secretary of State led to the disallowal of NOTA in Green Party primaries.
Ralph Nader ran as a NOTA candidate and supports the NOTA option as a method of voters to withhold consent and to initiate a new round of elections.
In elections where "None of the Above" is not an option, a ballot is usually regarded as spoilt if a voter decides to cross the entire ballot paper, or leave it blank.
Re-open Nominations (RON)
Many students' unions in the United Kingdom (including the National Union of Students) use a very similar ballot option called re-open nominations (RON) in instant runoff voting and single transferable vote elections. If re-open nominations is deemed elected to any position then at the end of the count that position is declared vacant and nominations must later be re-opened for that position. There are two common ways to use RON in conjunction with STV[link].External links
- [Voters for None of the Above]
- [None Of The Above - Tennessee]
- [Green Party of California v. Jones (1995)] [registration required]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.