No vote is also vote

In the past one week, I've had colleagues walk-up to me and request that I vote for them in the Trade Union election. It went on for a whole week and as the week was drawing to a close, the campaigners grew more fervent, more desperate and they were eager to pull eachother down.
We started seeing new faces in the newsroom. I later found out that these were our reporters from the districts that we know by name, if not their face. They had arrived just so they could vote. One of the candidates had sponsored their trip. So when the issue about my not showing up on the ballot-casting day cropped up, I was told, "Look the boys from the districts came!"
Tea sessions were filled with talks about how one was playing a "game" to make sure the other lost or their side won. And this was done with utmost pride. It got me wondering why we must even feel the need to divide ourselves for a cause when we aren't united for any cause in the first place.
Of course, I got condemned by the entire office for not voting, for being the only "fool" to not vote. But you vote when you believe you will be represented. That's how it goes.
I told them, "No vote is also a vote". But my intelligent colleagues had only jeering to offer.