secret ballots
Private voting method
Secret ballots are votes cast in a way that conceals the voter's choice from others.
The secrecy protects voters from coercion, bribery, or retaliation—no one can verify how you voted, so no one can punish or reward you for it.
Most modern elections use secret ballots: The union conducted the vote by secret ballot.
The term often appears in debates about voting integrity and voter privacy.
- anonymousOf unknown origin
- electionsFormal choosing of officials
- election dayScheduled voting occasion
- boxLidded storage container
- voteFormal choice expression
confidential · booth · privacy · voter privacy · curtain · polling place · suffrage · sealed records · undisclosed · franchise · democratic process · absentee voting · polling stations · paper trail · envelope · voting · urn · polls
- lodge recordsmeeting minutes, membership lists, charters, annual reports, rosters
secret ballotspublic voting
Non-anonymous ballot casting
show of hands · roll call votes · roll call vote · voice votes · voice vote
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