Abolish the Secret Ballot - 0 views
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Jeremy Vogel on 21 Oct 12For 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. To end such shenanigans, each of Australia's colonies began shifting to a secret ballot during the 1850s, and in 1872 England followed suit.