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Ballot Box
Your
guarantee that your secret vote is protected is a ballot
box so smiling presidents, premiers and politicians
imply as they drop folded ballot papers into a ballot box
would have us believe.
A ballot box
can only protect your secret vote if designed to do so.
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It has
only one slit for inserting ballot papers
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It has a
narrow slit to prevent insertion of more than one paper
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It has
no secret panel at the bottom
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It is in
one piece without fastenings that can be fiddled
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It is
continuously supervised without distraction.
None of these rules have been rigorously observed in
Australian elections, which used indestructible metal boxes
until recently.
A glass box,
as used in French presidential elections, is unknown.
A ballot box
can only protect your secret vote if no other pairs of hands
have touched it but yours.
Conditions:
When other
pairs of hands touch your ballot paper in a polling booth:
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Pre-polling voting if the ballot box is behind the
counter
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Absentee
voting if the official puts your vote in its envelope
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Overseas
voting if the ballot box is behind the counter
When votes
are being cast outside the protection of the ballot box:
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Postal
votes where ballots pass through 12 pairs of hands
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Hospital
voters where others may fill out ballot papers
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Migrant
votes where leaders collect and fill out ballot papers
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Absentee
votes in transit over distances by various means.
A ballot box can
only protect the value of your vote
if extra votes are not added or others removed during
voting hours.
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By
voting in false names, adding photo-copied ballot papers
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By
voting in genuine names
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By
intrusion or theft of votes by corrupt officials.
A ballot
box was once a security against all electoral fraud
when ballot papers only passed through one pair of
hands. But your vote is at risk today if you are voting in a
marginal seat.
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