An alternative voting system

A conversation I had with Cathy after reviewing the electoral bumf that came through the door...

Me: "It looks like the BNP aren't standing this year."

Cathy: "Yay! I don't have to vote."

Me: "But UKIP are..."

Cathy: "Awww. Now I have to vote."

Just to clarify - it's not that Cathy won't vote unless there's a right wing party to vote for. Quite the opposite. Not being a fan of any of the main parties, she feels it's important to vote for someone other than the people she really doesn't like. She's voting to keep the BNP out.

Which leads to an interesting idea. What if you don't have a preferred candidate but there are some people you definitely do NOT want to win? Would more people get involved in voting if we had the choice on the ballot paper of marking the candidates we hated the most, even if we felt there was nobody we actually wanted to vote for?

That would surely temper some of the politicians' arrogance as well. It's not that you were considered the best, you're just the least hated.