As one of the least inspiring presidential elections limps to a close, a significant number of people still feel they have no one for whom they want to vote.

While spoiling your vote as a protest is tempting, it is also pointless. Spoiled votes are rarely subjected to systematic analysis, much less any kind of count showing how many votes were spoiled by writing in the name of a candidate.

The idea that a large number of spoiled votes will be embarrassing to the Government assumes that politicians have a capacity for embarrassment.

The Fine Gael response to a trouncing in the last two referendums was not to be embarrassed, much less to learn anything. It was to appoint the director of elections for those two failures as their presidential candidate.

It’s hard to spoil a vote when you remember how hard women like Mary Hayden and Mary Gwynn fought to get one. Some will choose to abstain instead.

There is, however, another possibility. Voters in this election have the option to express their disapproval of the exclusion of other candidates by voting for Jim........

© The Irish Times