MOTION: Voters in referenda should be able to vote abstain .

This Union Notes In votes at general meetings and at Union Council, voters may vote abstain . The Big Red Book (BRB) 23.3 describes situations in which NUS delegates should abstain in NUS conferences. When the Union had paper voting in referenda, voters had three options: to vote Yes , No or to spoil their ballot paper. 10.5% of ballot papers in the 2003 Nestle referendum were spoilt. Spoilt ballot papers would count towards achieving quorum. Voters in electronic referenda, such as the Big Ask (February 2012) are unable to spoil their ballot paper. A referendum question is often run simultaneously to another referendum question (such as in the Big Ask), or other elections. The BRB (3.1 b) only states that the resolution to a referenda question must be yes or no . The BRB is silent on the voting options available to members at referenda. No campaign publicity can be produced in a referendum to encourage members to boycott it, spoil ballot papers or vote to abstain (see BRB 3.9c) Some Student Unions at other Russel Group Universities which regularly run referenda (such as Leeds and Sheffield) allow members to vote abstain in referenda. This Union Believes In a referendum there will be members who do not have a strong or informed opinion on the question but would like quorum to be reached so that the decision of the majority will be binding. Allowing members to vote abstain in referendum would enable this. Allowing members to vote abstain in referenda would give a truer reflection of members opinions on referenda questions. Particularly when the referendum is run alongside another referendum question or elections, it would reduce the number of members voting yes/no at random and the number of voters voting the same way they did on other referenda questions. This Union Resolves To add 3.5 (VOTING) g Members shall be able to vote yes , no or abstain .