UNDERSTANDING WHAT “SECRET BALLOT” MEANS IN COLORADO THE INTERSECTION OF PRIVACY (SECRECY IN VOTING) AND ANONYMOUS BALLOTS (the character of the process of voting interacts with the character of the produced record - SECRET DOES NOT EQUAL ANONYMITY! ANONYMOUS BALLOT (NO VOTER IDENTITY) | |||
NO | YES | ||
PRIVACY (SECRECY IN VOTING) | YES | Not Anonymous but Private Example: Ballot with a serial number that can be tied to the poll book number. Ballot is voted in private (no one watching). Someone with access to poll book and ballot can learn how the voter votes. Was legal in Colorado until 1946, now illegal. Ex: Ballot marked by voter to identify own ballot (illegal) | Anonymous and Private Example: A ballot marked in private. No voluntary or involuntary identifying marks. (A proper and legal ballot.) Ballot may be viewed by the public; images of ballots may be given to the public without sacrificing the privacy of the vote. Allows full public verifiability of an election. |
NO | Not Anonymous and Not Private Ex: Ballot with a serial number tied to the pollbook marked within view of a poll worker. (illegal) Ex: Ballot purposely marked with voter’s initials while candidate looks on. (illegal) | Anonymous but Not Private Ex. Ballot with no identifying marks, but poll worker watches the voter marking his ballot. (illegal) Ex: Voting in clerk’s office with no privacy booth, where other voters or candidates can watch. (illegal) | |
-Aspen's historic May 5, 2009 IRV election audited as single ballots- 5/5/09 Aspen CO held an instant runoff election (IRV) for mayor and 2 council members. Interpreted contents of each ballot, scanned by True Ballot, were publicly released. Open records requests for a CD of image scans were denied. Aspen has been sued to protect records from destruction and to allow inspection of the scanned ballot files. A Court of Appeals ruling holds that unidentifiable ballots are public records.
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