Australian Ballot

Australian Ballot also known as the “Secrete Ballot” is a confidential or private voting system. Early elections were publicly displayed which left the voter open to intimidation and corruption. In 1854, both the colonies of South Australia and Victoria created a secret ballot system. Between 1855 and 1859, the secret ballot was introduced in every Australian colony except Western Australia, which is more than a decade before its introduction in Great Britain and Canada. During these years, Australia was seen as the leading innovator of a working democratic government.

In America, during the late nineteenth century, it was very easy for candidates or their supporters to pay election officials to stuff voting boxes. In major cities, such as Cincinnati, city bosses rigged elections in favor of one candidate over the other. James E. Campbell, Ohio’s governor in 1890, made ballot reform one of the major issues of his administration. He declared that government failed to meet peoples needs “unless every elector is secured a free, secret, untrammeled and un-purchased ballot which shall be honestly counted and returned.” Ohio became one of the first cities to adopt the Australian Ballot System. Under the Australian Ballot System, all approved candidates would have their names and party designations listed on the official ballot. These ballots were provided to the voter only at polling places and only on Election Day. Voters were directed to put the ballot in the voting boxes immediately, limiting the opportunity for election officials to taint the process. Governor Campbell hoped that the Australian Ballot System would reduce confusion and corruption. The Ohio legislature agreed, and passes the Australian Ballot Law in 1891.

Although the Australian Ballot Law was passed in 1891 in Ohio, it wasn’t until 1892 that the Australian Ballot was used worldwide in the United States. The first President of the United States elected under the Australian Ballot was President Grover Cleveland in 1892. Elections in the United States are now almost always held by secret ballot. Mechanical, computerized, electronic, or optically scannable means of voting are now used to record about 90% of all votes in the United States. The institution of official ballots and the use of voting machines have helped bring political parties under the scope of the law. Even though the Australian Ballot didn’t ended corruption in politics, it greatly reduced illegal election activities.