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The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, [1] 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.
Tim explained the Australian ballot has two key features: It's uniformly printed in advance of the election, by an electoral or governmental authority, and voters cast it in secret.
In Australia, a voter anonymously registered is known as a silent elector. [1] To be a silent elector, a voter must satisfy the Divisional Returning Officer that their safety or that of any other person living in the same household would be at risk if their name and address were printed in the electoral register.
Secret balloting was implemented by Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia in 1856, [49] followed by other Australian colonies: New South Wales (1858), Queensland (1859), and Western Australia (1877). Colonial (soon to become States) electoral laws, including the secret ballot, applied for the first election of the Australian Parliament in 1901 ...
The secret ballot is a cornerstone of the democratic process. The United States first adopted the secret ballot process from Australia in the late 19th century.
Initially, each voter gave his vote orally to an official who made a note of it on an official tablet, but later in the Republic, the secret ballot was introduced, and the voter recorded his vote with a stylus on a wax-covered boxwood tablet, then dropped the completed ballot in the sitella or urna (voting urn), sometimes also called cista. [23]
When you cast your vote today, only you know what picks you made.
Victoria was the fourth jurisdiction in the world to enacted a law for a secret ballot. France adopted a secret ballot law in 1795. The movement for a secret ballot in South Australia was led by pioneer and advocate South Australian Electoral Commissioner William Boothby. [7] Tasmania adopted a secret ballot law on 7 February 1856. South ...