(in a preferential system of voting) a vote in which the preferences recorded simply follow the order in which candidates' names appear on the ballot paper.
I would much rather people abstain than cast a donkey vote
Example sentencesExamples
The donkey vote has remained stable since 1999.
Meanwhile, the number of donkey votes rises, the number of informal votes rises, people avoid registering to vote, and many people just make blind guesses at the polling booth.
They only won thanks to the donkey vote.
The Labor Party did have the donkey vote last time.
I can assure you that next time I will be doing a donkey vote unless I have learned something new between now and then.
Abolishing compulsory voting would cut out the donkey vote to some extent.
The best thing the candidate could hope for would be to win the donkey vote in the next ballot draw.
There is doubtless an element of donkey vote in his close call.
That 81% includes high numbers of donkey votes, invalid votes and blind guesses, so our real turnouts could be as low as 60%.
The fines for not voting are small and often not enforced, and you can always cast a donkey vote anyway.
Origin
Early 20th century: an allusion to the donkey's reputation for stupidity.