invalid and confers no electoral advantage upon any candidate. In that sense, the rejected vote is void. [161] With respect, this Court’s decision in the 2013 Raila Odinga case was not based on the distinction between “spoilt votes” and/or “rejected votes” as Mr. Aywa argues. This Court’s decision in that case was based on the reasoning that if rejected votes are not counted and/or assigned to any candidate, it would be illogical to take them into account for purposes of determining the threshold of 50% +1 in Article 138(4) of the Constitution. In its analysis at paragraph 281 of its judgment in the 2013 Raila Odinga case, this Court observed that even though both the Elections Act and its Regulations have used the terms “vote” and “ballot paper” interchangeably, in Kenya, no law or regulation brings out any distinction between them. The Court thus noted that a ballot paper marked and inserted into the ballot box will be either a valid vote or a rejected vote. [162] Viewed from the prism of these observations, it is imperative that the meaning of the phrase “votes cast” in Article 138(4) is clearly understood. In our view, no controversy arises as to the meaning of the word “cast”. In elections, the term refers to the ballot papers inserted into ballot boxes. The problem which arises is the correct meaning that should be ascribed to the term “votes.” Some, like Aywa76 and Lumumba77, take the view that all marked ballot papers and inserted into the presidential ballot box are “votes”, whether or not some are determined as valid and others as rejected votes at the time of counting. Others, for instance, this Court in the 2013 Raila Odinga case and the Seychellois Court of Appeal decision in the 76 77 Supra.   Supra.   Presidential  Petition  No.  1  of  2017                                                                                                                                                                                                            65  |  P a g e