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The way we vote, by "secret ballot," may seem like the obvious way to vote...
The way we vote, by "secret ballot," may seem like the obvious way to vote...
John Lewis Krimmel's "Election Day in Philadelphia" (1815).
But it took a long time for democracies to make voting secret.
Democracies used to limit voting to men who owned property (like land, livestock or watches). Elections during this time usually involved a small percentage of men. Elections were a spectacle, often a party filled with booze and food, in the public square.
At this time, voting was NOT secret. In many places, men declared their votes publicly for all to hear. In other places, voting was by "ticket" -- ballots were distributed by political parties, candidates, and other groups, and greatly varied in size, color, and style. Often, any piece of paper could be used as a ballot, including ballots handwritten at home or cut out of newspapers.
In the 19th century, democracies began removing their "property qualifications" to vote. More and more men (and in a few places in the latter part of the century, women) were eligible to vote.
Devising a way to make voting secret
Devising a way to make voting secret
By the 1850s, reformers in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand (among other places) wanted to protect the votes of working class men from the influence of their employers by making voting secret. Massachusetts came close to creating a secret ballot scheme in the 1850s, as did New Brunswick in 1855 (Elections Act 1855 s. 35 ), and California in 1872 (Political Code 1872, ss1185-1199).
These places devised ways to help encourage secrecy by providing opaque ballot poxes, requiring ballots be folded and hidden near the polling place and making sure ballots looked the same (e.g. the California law required ballots voters brought to the polling place be written or printed on paper provided by the government).
A ticket from an 1888 Californian election printed on government issued paper.
Key characteristics of the secret ballot
Key characteristics of the secret ballot
The central elements of the secret ballot regime Chapman developed include:
The government creates rules for who appears on the official ballot (i.e. who may be "nominated").
The government prints and distributes official ballots, which contain the names of all legally nominated candidates.
Voters are issued the official ballots inside the polling place.
Voters mark the official ballots in secret, depositing the completed ballot in the official ballot box.
No ballots except official ballots are counted.
Party issued ticket from Virginia for the 1860 U.S. presidential election.
The Answer: Government printed ballots
The Answer: Government printed ballots
Ultimately though, it was Henry Chapman in the Australian colonies who devised a working scheme that guaranteed secrecy. The innovation: The government will print all the offices and candidates names on the ballot paper and distribute them to voters at the polling place. In this system, no self-prepared (or party-issued) ballots would count.
The secret ballot was first used in Tasmania, South Australia, and Victoria in the mid-1850s. The system spread quickly across Australia and New Zealand, then to Canada and the United Kingdom in the 1870s, then to the United States in the late 1880s.
Official ballot from Australia for the 2016 Australian Federal Election.
Learn more:
Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House. (2025) "What is the secret ballot?"
L.E. Fredman. (1967) "The Introduction of the Australian Ballot in the United States."
Donald DeBats. (2016) "Secrecy in Voting in American History: No Secrets There."
Marian Sawer. (2001) "Inventing the Nation Through the Ballot Box."
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