Male genitalia, clowns and Mickey Mouse: How voters spoiled their ballots

Voters cast significantly fewer invalid ballots last weekend than they did in 2022, with spoiled votes dropping by nearly a third.

Yet, while the volume of protest votes shrank, the sheer creativity and commitment of disgruntled citizens reached some new heights, according to electoral sources.

Official electoral data shows that 6,093 voters (2% of the total turnout) spoiled or left their ballots blank this year, compared to the 8,802 invalid votes (2.9%) recorded four years ago.

But electoral agents from both the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party who monitored the sorting process told Times of Malta that some voters went to great lengths to express their disgruntlement or frustration with politics.

They said drawings of male genitalia were by far the most common images, and the word liba (semen) was among the most frequently scribbled insults.

But according to one agent who has been overseeing the sorting process for several elections, the drawings of male genitals have somewhat evolved.

Male genitalia remain the go-to drawing for many disgruntled voters. Photo: Kristina Vella

“In previous elections I noticed many would just draw a huge penis across the ballot,” he said.

“This time, quite a few took their time with it. Some drawings were more detailed, and a few voters drew small genitals in every single box next to each candidate.”

A few voters took the trouble to write specific comments next to every single candidate on the list, labelling them as “lazy” or “arrogant”. The word “korrotti” (corrupt) was also frequently scribbled, mostly across the lists of Labour candidates.

This voter spelt out a swear word vertically, dropping a single letter into each candidate's box down the page. Finding themselves with a couple of empty squares left over at the bottom, they filled the remaining space with a quick sketch of a penis and balls.

Mickey Mouse and the ‘clown’ minister

At least a couple of voters clearly felt their protest should not be restricted to the small pencil inside the voting booth.

They went prepared with pictures and possibly glue, and transformed their democratic duty into an arts-and-crafts protest against the political class.

The Chris Bonett ballot. Photo: Lovin Malta

One of the most elaborate protest votes was directed at Chris Bonett, who served as transport and infrastructure minister leading up to the election.

A voter printed out a photo of Bonett’s face, coloured his nose red with ink to resemble a clown, glued the photo directly onto the ballot, and wrote underneath: “Clown. No vote because of him.”

“You can say what you want about that voter, but that is creativity and commitment,” one party agent remarked.

This voter glued two cut-outs of Mickey Mouse's head onto the ballot.

Another voter seemed unhappy with both parties, glueing two cut-outs of Mickey Mouse’s head onto the ballot – a red one covering the PN candidates and a blue one over the PL list.

On the other hand, some voters simply crossed out the ballot, dragging a cross from top to bottom.

One disgruntled voter spelt out a swear word vertically, dropping a single letter into each candidate’s box down the page. Finding themselves with a couple of empty squares left over at the bottom, they filled the remaining space with a quick sketch of a penis.

Poetry and prayer cards

The dissatisfaction was not entirely crude. Many voters spoiled their vote by clearly citing issues like overpopulation, traffic, over-construction, and environmental destruction, with several writing “no vote” as an environmental protest.

The author of this poem was so fascinated by this ballot that he wanted to meet the voter and possibly buy the ballot from the electoral commission. Photo: Lovin Malta

In one instance, a voter neatly wrote the title of Immanuel Mifsud’s famous poem, “Aqta’ Fjura u Ibni Kamra” (Pick a flower and build a room), across the ballot paper.

After a photo of the ballot emerged in the media, Mifsud himself took to social media, expressing such fascination that he offered to buy the ballot from the electoral commission and invited the anonymous voter out for coffee.

Several people who invalidated their vote scribbled harsh swear words or slurs.

Party agents said other voters were not as selfless and not as concerned about national issues.

They simply wrote they would not vote because of failed clientelism. Several notes detailed grievances about being denied government help, promotions, or job transfers.

Interestingly, however, agents noted that some voters went to great lengths to voice their anger without actually ruining their vote.

The Maltese expletive for ‘semen’ was written across several ballots.

Some ballot boxes contained papers other than ballots, which were slipped in alongside valid ballots. These included religious prayer cards featuring saints (santi).

“Perhaps they thought the saints would work some magic and propel their party to victory,” one agent said.

Momentum candidate Mark Camilleri Gambin posted this picture on social media showing one of the racist spoiled ballots. Photo: Facebook/Mark Camilleri Gambin/Lovin Malta

Others slipped protest notes, racist slurs targeting foreign workers and Muslims, and handwritten letters to the prime minister or individual ministers complaining about personal injustices.

According to agents, these voters use this tactic to be able to cast a valid ballot while still voicing their protest. Any piece of paper cast in the box which is not a ballot is discarded.

Then there were the entirely blank ballots.

Agents explained that leaving a ballot completely empty is a calculated move by voters – often public sector workers – who do not want the major parties to know they boycotted the election.

While political parties can never see how an individual voted, they keep a register of who turned up to vote.

Slipping a blank ballot into the box allows these voters to appear on the register with the people who voted but still be able to refuse to vote for any party or candidate.

This voter simply ranked each candidate with a ‘0’. Photo: Kristina Vella

The unintentional blunders

Not all invalidations were acts of defiance, according to the agents. They noted that a handful of the spoiled pile seemed to have come from genuine mistakes by fiercely loyal voters who disqualified their own ballots unintentionally.

Under the Maltese single transferable vote system, any mark other than a sequential digit (1, 2, 3...) next to a candidate’s name invalidates the vote. But these voters appeared to have tried to cast a standard block vote for their preferred party but then wrote an ‘X’ or a ‘0’ next to all the candidates of the opposing party to show disdain.

In doing so, they completely nullified the sheet, entirely unaware that their loyal vote for their own party would be thrown straight into the reject pile.