Original question:

I would like to ask if you know of  any  democracy whose ballot papers have a provision for a "none of the above" choice?

Links to related resources:

• ACE: Electronic voting machines - blank vote options
• ACE: Criteria to determine when votes should count as valid

ACE Network Facilitator's response:

Depending on the electoral system in place and the ballot design, the actual practical applications of the "none of the above" (NOTA) option can be different.  For example:

• in Sweden, where voters choose between multiple ballots and, to vote, they insert one in an envelope, they can choose a completely blank ballot instead of one with a party name. 
• In India, where all candidates appear on one ballot paper there is no specific "none of the above" option, but voters can of course simply avoid marking a candidate. 
• In Ukraine, there is a specific "none of the above" option available to the voters.

However, what is even more interesting than the practical application of a NOTA option, is to look at the way in which these blank votes are treated in the counting, reporting and seat allocation phase of the election.

In some countries blank votes are simply treated as invalid and - thus - are not even reported separately. In others, they are reported separately, but treated as invalid/protest votes (i.e. they do not affect the outcome of the election for any of the parties/candidates running).

In other countries, still they are treated as valid options which require the provisions to specify what happens if this option gets a plurality or a majority of the votes (in plurality/majority systems) or a quota (in proportional systems) or simply affects the relative support for the smaller parties (i.e. making it harder for the small parties to reach a set threshold as in Ukraine). Ultimately this could leave the vacancy open or trigger another round of elections.

A recommended, interesting and provocative reading on the NOTA option is the novel Seeing by the Portuguese Nobel laureate Jose Saramago, a fable about the reaction of a right-wing government's to an election in which 83 percent of the votes cast are blank. 

Set in an imaginary country in Europe, the novel questions how a so-called "democratic system" would hold up if a majority of people decided to cast blank votes. Paradoxically, the central government reacts by declaring a state of emergency and building a wall around the capital city, while police use lie-detector machines in their hunt for voters who cast blank ballots...

Seeing follows a previous novel, Blindness, a story that deals with the frailty of humanity and society through both metaphoric and physical blindness. In the book, a man suddenly becomes blind while waiting in his car at a red light. Soon, those who come into contact with him become blind as well, and the condition spreads to the entire population of the city, with the only exception of a woman, the doctor's wife. A central figure in both novels, she is then considered by the government as the mastermind of the blank ballot "conspiracy" described in the following Seeing.

Finally, aside from imaginary novels, you can read more about the "none of the above" provisions in the United States and Canada in Wikipedia.

The opinions expressed by the ACE Network Facilitator do not necessarily reflect those of the ACE Partner organizations.

ACE PRACTITIONERS' NETWORK