Millās preference for open voting by vocal vote was based on the idea that voting action is a public service. Since it is an official act, he believed that free opinions should be expressed in a fair and honest manner before all members of the public. - Smooth Society and Its Enemies p.163 ā secret ballot.
Mill thought it would be better to have an open ballot.
2024-05-02
TrinityNYC When it comes to elections, Americans hang signs in their front yards with their preferred candidates,
āI will vote for candidate 00!ā
I always make my intentions clear like that. Like this. This is a picture I took in our neighborhood during the election 4 years ago. (Our town is a blue town where 75% voted for Biden.)
TrinityNYC Just the other day, I was walking around the neighborhood with my dog, and I saw a house with a sign similar to this one. What do you think it looks like?
This is it already, I donāt care if Taylor is president! This messed up state of affairs, do something about it!
nishio Is this what America is like? (N=1) Itās totally different from Japan. I heard that JS Mill said that voting is a public service and should be done in public, so I wonder if that has some influence on it.
I asked Claude and he knew the source, thanks for the help.
Mill strongly opposed the introduction of secret ballots. He believed that voting behavior should be public. His reasons were as follows.
- Voting is a public duty and voters should be held publicly accountable for their votes.
- Open voting would make it easier for voters to vote based on their own genuine interests. There is less risk of pressure from employers or others to vote against an individualās wishes.
- With secret ballots, there is a risk of rampant trading of votes for money or other quid pro quo.
- Open voting encourages sensible voting that is in the best interest of the public as a whole.
On the other hand, Mill also understood the arguments in favor of secret ballots. For example, he argued that open voting would give landowners and others too much influence. He believed, however, that this harm could be remedied by the spread of education, and ultimately, the improvement of the publicās moral character was essential to healthy elections.
What does the original text say?
In Chapter 10 of Millās book, āConsiderations on Representative Government,ā (1861), he discusses the open voting system in detail. The main parts are quoted below.
The question of the greatest moment in regard to modes of voting is that of secrecy or publicity, and to this we will at once address ourselves.(CW 19, 488-) 490)
The translation of this into modern English is as follows.
The most important question regarding the voting method is whether it should be secret ballot or open ballot, and I would like to discuss this. It would be a big mistake to go on with sentimental arguments about cowardice or hiding. Secret ballots can be justified in many cases, and in some cases are essential. It is not cowardice to try to protect oneself from harm that can legitimately be avoided. Nor can it be reasonably said that secret ballots are entirely inconceivable in some cases where they are preferable to open ballots. But in political matters, I would argue that such cases are the exception, not the rule. This is one of the many cases in which, as I have already stated, the spirit of the institution, that is, the impression it makes on the minds of citizens, is one of the most important parts of its operation. The spirit of the vote, that is, the interpretation which seems to arise in the mind of the voter, is that suffrage is given not as a public trust, but for his own sake, for his particular use and benefit. For if it is really a trust, if the public is entitled to his vote, are they not entitled to know his vote? As mentioned above, Mill emphasizes the importance of public voting and argues that voting should be exercised as a public trust, not for private gain.
Considerations on Representative Government, by John Stuart Mill āChapter X-Of the Mode of Votingā begins with this sentence. I see, the argument is that since voting is a trust of decision-making from the public to the individual, the public has the right to know the results of the vote.
summary
- In this text excerpt from John Stuart Mill, he discusses the impact of open versus secret ballots. He argues that the debate should not focus on emotions such as timidity and acknowledges that secret ballots are justified in certain cases. However, he stresses that in political matters, open voting is usually preferable.
- Mill criticizes secret ballots (voting by ballot) as creating a false perception among voters that voting is a personal right and not a public duty. He is concerned that this viewpoint induces voters to use their vote as a private asset, for personal gain rather than the public good.
- Mill emphasizes that voting should be mandatory and that the voter has a responsibility to vote in the best interest of the public. This is similar to the verdict of a jury and should not be exercised as a personal right. He concludes that secret ballots may encourage behavior that lacks a sense of responsibility to the public and warns that this may undermine the integrity and purpose of voting in a democratic society.
This page is auto-translated from /nishio/ęē„ØćÆå ¬å using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. Iām very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.