Talk:Secret ballot

This article contains blurry and conflicting information

While this article provides excellent historical information about the secret ballot, it provides little clarity with respect to who has the legal right to a secret ballot. Four countries are discussed from a historical perspective that could easily lead a casual reader to conclude that the citizens of each of these countries are entitled to a secret ballot when in fact the information contained herein supports only that French citizens and a few select groups within the other countries have that right.

In the third paragraph of the opening, the following statement appears: "In the U.S., voting by secret ballot was universal by 1892". This statement implies that all US elections are by secret ballot; but, within the US section it is contradicted: "Elections in the United States are mostly held by secret ballot". Furthermore, buried in the "Secret vs reliability" section it is stated "....Federal District Judge Christine Arguello, ... denied the existence of a constitutional right to a secret ballot."

I am placing my comments here because my attempt to edit the article to add some clarity was deleted by another contributor; one who has not contributed, but merely deletes other contributions to this article. We all appreciate the open discussion about what constitutes a secret ballot and the different ballot procedures; but, to be truly informative this article should provide concise information regarding who truly uses a secret ballot process and who does not; who has the right to a secret ballot and who does not. The wiki secret ballot page is almost always in the top five search engine hits when listing "secret ballot" within a search. Let's all work together to provide clear, useful and actionable information. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Corsairone (talk • contribs) 00:17, 9 November 2012 (UTC)

indeed, this whole articule is confusing.

- nobody calls secret ballots australian ballots. while this may be historically relevant and should be mentioned, the constant repetition of this uncommon term can lead the reader to believe that the secret ballot is unique to australia.

- the right to a secret ballot is in several state constitutions in the united states

- 40% of the ballots in 2022 were cast by mail, so the claim of "mostly in person" cannot be said to be true

- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 25(b) Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any of the distinctions mentioned in article 2 and without unreasonable restrictions: (b) To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot.

- No mention of Australian anywhere in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Simul (talk) 19:35, 13 August 2024 (UTC)

earlier comments

Ah, I figured it out. Removed my previous extraneous comment. Sim 16:55, Aug 2, 2004 (UTC) I would have thought the secret ballot would have been around long before 1850. How about the process of Ostracism in Ancient Greece? This seems to qualify as a secret ballot, but I have no idea if it is the first such example. Ostracism was done by popular vote, with pottery fragments used as ballots. When an ostracism was called, the citizens of Athens would gather in the marketplace and write the name of the man they wanted to ostracise on their ballot, then toss it into a pen. If less than six thousand ballots were cast, there was no ostracism, but if there were enough ballots, then the man whose name appeared most often on the pottery fragments was exiled for a period of ten years (from http://www.e-classics.com/ARISTIDES.htm) Ostracism is as follows: The Demos takes a vote before the 8th Prytany, as to whether it seemed best to hold an ostracism. When the response is positive, the Agora is fenced off with barricades; ten entrances were left open, through which they entered according to Phyle and deposited their potsherds, keeping face-down what they had written. (from http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/ostracis.html) This is a useful article-just-beyond-a-stub, but misses out on much.

Ostracism was intended to avoid civil war so it figures that they would want a defence against Ostracism.Dejvid 13:48, 9 Jan 2005 (UTC)

OOps! I meant a defence against intimidation.~~