THE QUESTION of greatest moment in regard to modes of voting is that
of secrecy or publicity; and to this we will at once address
ourselves.
It would be a great mistake to make the discussion turn on
sentimentalities about skulking or cowardice. Secrecy is justifiable
in many cases, imperative in some, and it is not cowardice to seek
protection against evils which are honestly avoidable. Nor can it be
reasonably maintained that no cases are conceivable in which secret
voting is preferable to public. But I must contend that these cases,
in affairs of a political character, are the exception, not the rule.
The present is one of the many instances in which, as I have already
had occasion to remark, the spirit of an institution, the impression
it makes on the mind of the citizen, is one of the most important
parts of its operation. The spirit of vote by ballot- the
interpretation likely to be put on it in the mind of an elector- is
that the suffrage is given to him for himself; for his particular
use and benefit, and not as a trust for the public. For if it is
indeed a trust, if the public are entitled to his vote, are not they
entitled to know his vote? This false and pernicious impression may
well be made on the generality, since it has been made on most of
those who of late years have been conspicuous advocates of the ballot.
The doctrine was not so understood by its earlier promoters; but the
effect of a doctrine on the mind is best shown, not in those who
form it, but in those who are formed by it.
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