# Right to a secret ballot **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-to-a-secret-ballot/764814 "2016-09-02T20:42:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-to-a-secret-ballot/764814/1 "2016-09-02T20:42:45Z")
Is the right to a secret ballot established in the US Constitution? It doesn’t seem to be in any direct and obvious fashion. But it is certainly a right that people seem to think they have? Could Kansas, say, pass a law saying all ballots must identify the voter casting the ballot and this information is publicly available? If it’s not in the Constitution directly, has the Supreme Court made any specific decisions on this matter? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-to-a-secret-ballot/764814/2 "2016-09-02T20:58:11Z")
I have heard a legal expert state that ballot identity could be used in court if the validity of an election is in question. That would involve a case of voter fraud, or ballot counting error where the results could swing an election one way or the other. I could see courts readily overturning such a law as you propose on the basis that it will deter voting, but I don’t know how that it could be considered unconstitutional. Perhaps that right to privacy we’re supposed to have would be used. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-to-a-secret-ballot/764814/3 "2016-09-02T21:02:46Z")
It’s not mentioned in the constitution. This is an issue left to the states. More info at wikipedia: [Secret ballot - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_ballot) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-to-a-secret-ballot/764814/4 "2016-09-02T21:41:50Z")
There was a case, ever so long ago, where an election was in question, and a judge asked various voters how they had voted. Some tried not to answer, saying the secrecy of the ballot was a right. The Judge said that they didn’t have the right… (And I don’t remember what the final upshot was.) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-to-a-secret-ballot/764814/5 "2016-09-02T21:57:42Z")
I[t wasn’t even an American idea.](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Australian-ballot) ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-to-a-secret-ballot/764814/6 "2016-09-02T22:10:10Z")
Can you imagine all the problems if it wasn’t a secret ballot? Outright purchasing of votes because they can be verified, employers looking up who their employees voted for, family members checking up on other family members, etc, etc… ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-to-a-secret-ballot/764814/7 "2016-09-02T23:57:42Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I[t wasn’t even an American idea.](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Australian-ballot) Although it’s called the Australian ballot, according to Wiki, France was first, and the US and Netherlands had it before Australia. > **[Secret ballot](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_ballot)** > > The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote buying. This system is one means of achieving the goal of political privacy. > Secret ballots are used in conjunction with various voting systems. The most basic form of a secret ballot utilizes paper ballots upon which each voter marks their choices. With... And of course, they had secret voting in Ancient Greece for ostracism. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-to-a-secret-ballot/764814/8 "2016-09-03T00:15:16Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > Can you imagine all the problems if it wasn’t a secret ballot? > > Outright purchasing of votes because they can be verified, employers looking up who their employees voted for, family members checking up on other family members, etc, etc… We don’t have to imagine. All we have to do is look at history. > [@](#): > > For the United States’ first century, Americans elected their leaders in full view of their neighbors, gathering on courthouse steps to announce their votes orally or hand a distinctive preprinted ballot or unfolded marked paper to a clerk. Such a public process made elections ripe for bribes and threats, although the scene around American polling places never matched Australia’s, where a population of criminals and goldbugs made electoral intimidation something of a democratic pastime. > **[Abolish the Secret Ballot](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/abolish-the-secret-ballot/309038/)** > > The Atlantic covers news, politics, culture, technology, health, and more, through its articles, podcasts, videos, and flagship magazine. > **[The Vote That Failed](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-vote-that-failed-159427766/?no-ist)** > > Old style ballots cast illegally in Indiana helped topple a president then he helped topple them