Democracy, we are told, is a form of government in which all eligible citizens participate equally.

Yet at each election voters are presented with a sort of Hobson’s choice of supporting what’s on offer, or not voting at all.

As a result, many people say they won’t vote for the party they actually want to vote for, because it has virtually no chance of winning, or because they can’t see any differences between the parties on offer to them.

Perhaps they object to the party policies, or the parties have put forward candidates who have been shown to be self-serving, power hungry individuals with objectionable views, or are simply people in the pockets of big business, rather than being interested in representing local people with integrity and improving UK politics.

That is frustrating and disempowering for everyone and leads many people to either make a protest vote for extremist parties that they believe won't win the election, to spoil their ballot paper or to give up on democracy and not vote at all.

Whereupon, they are derided by politicians and the media as too stupid, lazy or apathetic to go out and vote.

Looking in depth at the results of the recent local elections in Harrow, I see that Harrow Borough Council reports blank ballot papers in the category of “void for uncertainty”, along with the ballots from people who have misunderstood the instructions on how to cast their vote, have identified themselves on the ballot paper, or have given their opinion of the state of politics in Harrow without marking any candidate.

This seems to be the minimum requirement — as required by the Electoral Commission — and I am not suggesting that there is anything untoward in the way that Harrow has conducted its past elections.

However, I contend that disillusionment with politicians is not the same as indifference — and therefore those voters that intentionally left their ballot papers blank are making an active and well thought-out choice — effectively saying that they want something better than what is being offered to them.

So, I am today calling upon Harrow Council to commit to lead the way in future elections, by separating the blank ballot papers from the “rejected” ones, and publishing the number of blank ballots, along with the candidate totals.

Since in a healthy democracy, people who don’t want any of the candidates still need to be heard, and we all want to know that there is a full and fair choice within the democratic system.

I’m sure there are some readers who will dismiss this idea, but it’s not as crazy as you might think.

Many countries across Europe have a tradition of counting and reporting the number of blank votes cast (Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Norway, Spain for example), and even the London Assembly publishes the number of blank ballot papers counted, if you search hard enough on its website.

Further, MPs may register an active abstention from an issue by voting both “Yes” and “No” to a ballot.

But voters in the UK who want to engage with the democratic process are not allowed to say they don’t like any of the parties.

So come on Harrow Council, please lead the way among councils by committing to publish the number of blank ballot papers at the next election, and in all future elections.

A blank ballot is a positive and pro-democratic form of protest for people who would otherwise not vote, and demands that people actually think about the election and take part, rather than simply opting out.

Praxis Reform