How we mark our ballot paper can affect how we feel about voting. Here’s why

Have you ever left a polling station feeling that your mark on the ballot paper didn’t quite say what you wanted it to? Perhaps you liked two candidates but had to drop one, or backed the one who might actually win over the one you preferred.

Our feelings about democracy are important. Who wins matters, and so does whether an election feels fair. But there is another, less obvious factor: what the ballot paper allows us to say.

In his first party conference speech as prime minister, Andy Burnham…

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