The use of secret ballots began with the Greeks in 139 B.C. It was pretty much stayed in Greece until the French adopted it in 1795; Australia in 1854; The English in 1872. Kentucky started using it for presidential elections only in 1891, but Massachusetts was the first state to use it for local, state, and federal elections in 1856. The Constitution of West Virginia still allows for oral ballots.
Originally in the US, you had to place a piece of paper on which an X was printed into the box designated for every candidate. This made for some nasty election day fraceses when any given opposition supporters could easily tell who was voting for whom. The combination of booze and open political convictions proved to be a troublesome mix and was eventually replaced with what became known as "The Australian Ballot".
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I'd rather be historically accurate than politically correct.
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