What is the secret ballot?

Along with the invention of the beloved democracy sausage, Australia also blazed a trail in election reform by pioneering the modern secret ballot, or Australian ballot as it is also known. It's a reform that changed democracy here in Australia and around the world.  

What is a secret ballot?

A secret ballot is a voting method where the voter keeps their identity anonymous to provide political privacy. The aim is to avoid voter intimidation and any form of retribution for not voting in a specific way. Typically, when voting by secret ballot, the voter anonymously marks a government-issued ballot paper with their choice/choices, folds it to hide their vote and places it into a sealed box through a small opening. 

The modern secret ballot was first used in Victoria in 1856. A small but important design tweak of marking 'X' against a candidate's name, rather than crossing out an unwanted name, was introduced in South Australia shortly afterwards. The South Australian version is known as the Australian ballot. This is the system we use to vote here in Australia. 

How did Australians vote before the secret ballot? 

In the first parliamentary elections held in Australia, the Legislative Council of New South Wales elections held in 1843, the British open voting system of casting ballots in public was used. The elections were mostly held in pubs and nominations were made in public, outside the pub. On voting day, voters wrote their candidate's name on a piece of paper, signed it and gave it to an officer, who had them say who they voted for out loud. 

The elections were rough, chaotic and rife with intimidation and bribery, especially in the form of free drinks and food provided by candidates to influence and subsequently reward those who voted for them.  

Even though only men who owned or rented substantial property were allowed to vote, the wild, party-like atmosphere in each electoral district drew big crowds. Hourly vote counts were posted to increasingly unruly crowds, and two men were killed amid riots, fighting and damage to property and campaign booths. 

The invention of the modern secret ballot 

The gold rushes of the 1850s saw an influx of migrants to Australia who brought new ideas about how the various Australian colonies could run their governments. One of these reforms was that voters should be allowed to cast their ballots in secret.  

In December 1855, Victorian Legislative Council member William Nicholson submitted a Bill to the Victorian Cabinet for voting by secret ballot. There was strong opposition from wealthy members of the Council wanting to defend the older system, but Nicholson secured support for the Bill and the law came into effect on 19 March 1856. 

Another legislative member, Henry Chapman, devised a system for how the secret ballot would work. The government would print ballot papers with the names of all the candidates to be distributed by government election officials. On polling day, the voter would collect a ballot paper from an official, who would mark his name off the roll, then go into another room to vote in private with provided pen, ink and blotting paper. The voter would cross out the names of candidates he didn't support, then put his folded ballot in a box.  

Having the government provide the ballot papers rather than the parties, candidates or voters themselves was an innovative approach. This process was further refined with the idea of having stalls, so multiple people could vote in private at the same time.  

Victoria was the first to try this new system in 1856 to elect the first Victorian parliament. In addition to using a secret ballot, the results were announced at the end, rather than an hourly vote count. It was reportedly a civilised election without voter intimidation, bribery or disorderly, drunken crowds. The secret ballot was considered a resounding success. 

The secret ballot becomes the Australian ballot 

South Australia and Tasmania followed Victoria shortly afterwards, passing secret ballot laws in 1856. New South Wales passed secret ballot legislation in 1858. 

However, South Australia made a small but significant change to the voting method. William Boothby produced a ballot allowing South Australian voters to place an 'X' in the box beside their candidate's name rather than crossing out the candidates they didn't want to vote for. This system became known as the Australian ballot and was adopted in Britain in 1872, followed by the US after the 1884 presidential elections, and then widely around the world.

Was voting in secret used prior to the Australian ballot?

Yes! Secret voting was used in a handful of countries including France, Belgium, Switzerland and some American states prior to the invention of the Australian ballot. However, most secret voting methods weren't actually very confidential. For instance, in America candidates printed pre-filled out voting cards in a specific colour, making it easy to identify who the voter's chosen candidate or party was.