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If there was no secret ballot, then hanging chads, dimpled chads and the like would all be irrelevant. An individual could simply be asked, if there was any question at all, what he intended by a particular vote. More to the point, each registered voter could have his vote available as a matter of public record and correct it, if it was not properly recorded.
Eligibility to vote could also be much easier to determine. Assume, for example, that a state had a thirty day residency requirement and a mailing address requirement and nothing more. If someone registered to vote and voted in violation to those requirements, not only could the illegal voter be prosecuted - along with any party hacks who aided him - but the particular illegal vote could also be identified and cast out as well.
What about the great dread of intimidation? That did not prevent the United States from having a very vigorous, closely competitive system of elections during the decades leading up to the gradual adoption of the secret ballot. Intimidation works very poorly when it is difficult to predict who which candidate or party will have power. The very close division of party power in America, and the vigorous two party system in every state, make genuine voter intimidation a very bad gamble.
Not only are their many more laws to protect voters against intimidation or discrimination than when America had a flourishing democracy and a public ballot, but actual voter intimidation would also certainly backfire catastrophically into the faces of those who tried it. What are Democrats doing right now? Preemptively alleging voter intimidation!
Saying there is no fundamental right to a secret ballot, a federal judge Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed by elections integrity activists that challenged whether counties can print ballots with identifying numbers that critics say can be traced back to individual voters easily.
Denver U.S. District Judge Christine Arguello first denied a request by the Citizen Center, a group that advocates transparency in elections, to block counties temporarily from printing ballots with identifying bar codes.
Arguello then dismissed the entire case, filed against Secretary of State Scott Gessler and the clerks in Boulder, Chaffee and Eagle counties.
"The court made the right decision," Gessler said Friday afternoon. "The fact is, with our new rules and guidelines, voter secrecy is better protected now than ever before."
Abolishing the secret ballot would not resolve the issues you mention above, but such would allow you to intimidate those who do not vote as you do.
Abolishing the secret ballot would not resolve the issues you mention above, but such would allow you to intimidate those who do not vote as you do.
If Jake disagrees, it must be good.
Jake disagrees with murder too....it must be good?
