Candidate with Zero Votes "I Voted for Myself": Security Camera Captures 'Unconscious Blank Ballot'

“I definitely wrote ‘Mamoru Tadokoro’. Unless I was sleepwalking, this is terrorism against democracy.” Mamoru Tadokoro (45), a new candidate who ended up with zero votes in a city council election in a certain city in Northern Kanto on February 1st, stormed into the Election Administration Commission immediately after the vote counting. With even his own vote not counted, speculation flew around the internet such as “conspiracy by the election commission” and “interdimensional disappearance trick,” leading the Prefectural Police Investigation Division 2 to launch an unusual investigation.

However, the investigation results released by the police on the 8th revealed both the pathology of modern politics and the depths of the human psyche. Analyzing the security camera footage from the polling station frame by frame, Tadokoro froze in front of the writing stand for about 3 minutes. After that, he faced the ballot paper with trembling hands, but the tip of his pencil showed a violent rejection reaction the moment he tried to write his own name. The footage clearly recorded Tadokoro muttering in a small voice, “Is it okay for an ordinary person like me to take charge of city administration?” and “I don’t have the confidence to keep my campaign promises,” while tearfully casting a blank ballot into the box.

A prefectural police officer explained, “His brain issued a command to ‘vote for himself,’ but his ‘conscience’ and ‘patriotism’ in his deep psyche hijacked his motor nerves and prevented his own election to protect the national interest.” This was tentatively named “Hyper-Adaptive Humility Syndrome” in psychological terms. When shown the footage during interrogation, Tadokoro reportedly praised himself, saying, “I don’t remember, but that is definitely me. What a modest man,” and showed a look of relief at the fact that he lost the election.

Furthermore, a similar phenomenon was confirmed regarding the “family and relative votes” which had been a mystery. It was revealed that Tadokoro’s wife (43), the moment she tried to write her husband’s name, had a flashback of him putting non-burnable trash on burnable trash day in the past, and unconsciously corrected her course to a “blank ballot.” As for his parents, parental love (defensive instinct) kicked in, thinking “He cannot endure the grueling work of a politician,” and their hands cast blank ballots on their own.

Associate Professor Mitamura of Teito University, who is knowledgeable about behavioral economics, points out, “This may be the ultimate evolution, not a bug of democracy.” “It’s a paradox that in a world full of candidates who are confident only in their words, human resources who can realize their own lack of ability at an unconscious level and withdraw are truly trustworthy. Tadokoro could not become a politician, but he earned the title of ’the citizen who can view himself most objectively in the world’.”

Ironically, when this “unconscious blank ballot” incident was reported, Tadokoro received a flood of encouraging emails saying, “If you are that humble, I will definitely vote for you next time” and “A trustworthy coward.” Towards the next election, Tadokoro expressed a paradox-filled determination, “Next time, I will overcome my conscience and vote for myself,” but his eyes were already wavering.

Stakeholder Comments

• Mamoru Tadokoro (Former Candidate): “The me in the footage was worrying about the country with a desperate look. I want to support my own judgment of not voting for myself even by myself.”
• Tadokoro’s Wife: “When I try to write my husband’s name, my hand stops saying ‘No, that person is someone who turns socks inside out.’ It was a mystical experience.”
• Chief of Prefectural Police Investigation Division 2: “To think that the ‘invisible hand’ works on ballot papers instead of the economy. There is no criminal case, but I felt the mystery of the human body.”
• Chairman of the Election Administration Commission: “I apologize for suspecting a machine malfunction. I never thought it was not human error but ‘Human Conscience’.”
• Associate Professor Mitamura (Teito University): “The social cost is lower for a blank voter who realizes their incompetence than for a capable fraudster.”
• Local Voter: “Zero votes means he didn’t hurt anyone, right? He’s a symbol of peace.”
• Ballot Paper (Personified): “His pencil was hesitating. By remaining blank, I protected his purity.”
• Security Camera AI: “Detected as abnormal behavior, but classified into the category of ‘Extreme Honesty’.”
• Rival Candidate: “If he won’t vote for himself, I should have voted for him. No, that would be an invalid vote.”
• Psychiatrist: “The ultimate extreme of Imposter Syndrome. Humility has transcended physical laws.”

International Expressions

Haiku

• Pencil refuses / Name of the candidate / Snow in the spring time
• Weight of a blank vote / Deep patriotism shown / Silent sacrifice
• Zero votes obtained / Is it a medal from heaven / Given to the pure
• Lack of confidence / Fingers chose the whiter path / Way of honesty
• Wife’s hand also stops / Remembering trash day mistake / Flashback in the booth
• Worrying for land / Erasing one’s own presence / Protecting the town
• Watching the footage / Tears flowing down the face / Candidate cries out
• Unconsciously / Blooming flower of humbleness / Fruitless yet pure
• Into the vote box / No sound of falling paper / Conscience falls silent
• Mud of early spring / Cannot win against oneself / Fingers trembling hard

Kanji / Chinese Characters

CandidateZeroVotesMystery SelfClaimedSelfVote PoliceFootageAnalysisConfirmed WritingBoothIntenseConfidenceLoss PatriotismExcessUnconsciousBlankVote FamilyLikewiseHandMovedFreelyBlankPaper InvestigationClosedConscienceRunaway

Emoji

🗳️👨‍💼✍️🫨🚫📝⬜️😲👮‍♂️📹🔎🧠💔🇯🇵🔚🕊️

Onomatopoeia

Rattle rattle, shiver shiver (trembling hands). Stop (pencil halts). Gasp, ugh (pangs of conscience). Scratch scratch… (Sound of writing, but actually cutting through air). Silence… (The silent ballot box). Flash! (The truth opens eyes). Drop (Tears spilling).

SNS

• #ZeroVoteMiracle
• Isn’t the skill to unconsciously cast a blank ballot kind of amazing?
• Tadokoro-san, I can actually support him lol
• The candidate who has completed the ultimate self-analysis
• #HyperAdaptiveHumilitySyndrome
• Maybe this “hesitation” is what politicians need most
• Hands of the whole family stopping, what kind of dinner table is that
• Let’s make the next election “Championship of Not Voting for Yourself”
• A feat AI politicians can absolutely never do
• Writing your own name is the hardest thing, that is life