A donkey vote is when someone puts numbers on an election ballot paper in the same order that the candidates are listed. For example, if a ballot paper had J. Smith on the top line, M. Doe on the middle line and N. Citizen on the bottom line, and the voter put a 1 beside J. Smith, a 2 beside M. Doe and a 3 beside N. Citizen, that would be called a donkey vote. Donkey votes are counted in election results because a person could have wanted to vote in that way, the votes are formal, a number is placed in all boxes.