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Secret ballot: Difference between revisions

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{{For|2001 Iranian film|Secret Ballot (film)}}
{{For|2001 Iranian film|Secret Ballot (film)}}
{{Voting}}
{{Voting}}
[[File:Luis Guillermo Solís, elecciones abril 2014.jpg|thumb|[[Luis Guillermo Solís]],  then-[[President of Costa Rica]], votes behind a privacy screen]]
[[File:Luis Guillermo Solís, elecciones abril 2014.jpg|thumb|[[Luis Guillermo Solís]],  then-[[President of Costa Rica]], votes behind a privacy screen which says "The VOTE is SECRET."]]
The '''secret ballot''', also known as the '''Australian ballot''',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Australian-ballot|title=Australian ballot &#124; politics|website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> 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.
The '''secret ballot''', also known as the '''Australian ballot''',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Australian-ballot|title=Australian ballot &#124; politics|website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> 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.


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In Australia, secret balloting appears to have been first implemented in [[Tasmania]] on 7 February 1856.
In Australia, secret balloting appears to have been first implemented in [[Tasmania]] on 7 February 1856.


Until the original Tasmanian ''Electoral Act 1856'' was "re-discovered" recently, credit for the first implementation of the secret ballot often went to Victoria, where it was pioneered by the former mayor of Melbourne, [[William Nicholson (Australian politician)|William Nicholson]],<ref>Blainey, G 2016, ‘’The story of Australia's people: the rise and rise of a new Australia’’, Viking, Penguin Random House, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia, p.18.</ref> and simultaneously [[South Australia]].<ref>Terry Newman, {{cite web|url= http://www.mumble.com.au/enrollingthepeople/tasmania/newman_tasmania_and_secret_ballot.pdf |title=Tasmania and the Secret Ballot }}&nbsp;{{small|(144&nbsp;[[Kibibyte|KiB]])}} (2003), 49(1) ''Aust J Pol & Hist 93'', accessed May 20, 2015</ref> Victoria enacted [[Electoral Act 1856|legislation]] for secret ballots on 19 March 1856,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://foundingdocs.gov.au/item-sdid-21.html|title=Documenting Democracy|website=foundingdocs.gov.au|access-date=24 March 2018}}</ref> and South Australian Electoral Commissioner [[William Boothby]] generally gets credit for creating the system finally enacted into law in South Australia on 2 April of that same year (a fortnight later). The other Australian colonies followed: [[New South Wales]] (1858), [[Queensland]] (1859), and [[Western Australia]] (1877).
Until the original Tasmanian ''Electoral Act 1856'' was "re-discovered" recently, credit for the first implementation of the secret ballot often went to Victoria, where it was pioneered by the former mayor of Melbourne, [[William Nicholson (Australian politician)|William Nicholson]],<ref>Blainey, G 2016, ‘’The story of Australia's people: the rise and rise of a new Australia’’, Viking, Penguin Random House, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia, p.18.</ref> and simultaneously [[South Australia]].<ref>Terry Newman, {{cite web|url= http://www.mumble.com.au/enrollingthepeople/tasmania/newman_tasmania_and_secret_ballot.pdf |title=Tasmania and the Secret Ballot }}&nbsp;{{small|(144&nbsp;[[Kibibyte|KiB]])}} (2003), 49(1) ''Aust J Pol & Hist 93'', accessed May 20, 2015</ref> Victoria enacted [[Electoral Act 1856|legislation]] for secret ballots on 19 March 1856,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://foundingdocs.gov.au/item-sdid-21.html|title=Documenting Democracy|website=foundingdocs.gov.au|access-date=24 March 2018}}</ref> and South Australian Electoral Commissioner [[William Boothby]] generally gets credit for creating the system finally enacted into law in South Australia on 2 April of that same year (a fortnight later). The other British colonies in Australia followed: [[New South Wales]] (1858), [[Queensland]] (1859), and [[Western Australia]] (1877).


State electoral laws, including the secret ballot, applied for the first election of the Australian Parliament in 1901, and the system has continued to be a feature of federal elections and referenda.  
State electoral laws, including the secret ballot, applied for the first election of the Australian Parliament in 1901, and the system has continued to be a feature of federal elections and referenda.