ONE national electoral statistic which is not published and probably not recorded is the number of spoilt ballot papers in a General Election. Some are mistakes, but spoiling ballot papers is a message of protest to the candidates, which is what voting is about.
The Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Bishop Auckland, Durham county councillor Mark Wilkes, who bought up the website domain names of three rivals (Echo, Jan 11), may think himself very clever, but he does his party no favours by it and it is one reason why people are disgusted with parties and politics and may not be voting in the forthcoming election. His action also questions his suitability as a candidate.
Tony Pelton, Catterick, North Yorkshire.
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