Until 1872, most voting, including at General Elections, was done through a public voting process, with each voter announcing aloud which candidate he chose to cast his vote for. This had led to a long-running debate over the introduction of a secret ballot. Advocates pointed out the evident corruption rife in the current system, whereby tenants felt compelled to vote for their landlord (or their landlord's preferred candidate) upon fear of penalties. Opponents, however, argued that the secret ballot would remove people's sense of community responsibility, and encourage them to vote with only their own interest in mind. Finally, in 1872, the Ballot Act decreed that future General Elections would implement a secret voting system.

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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Secret Ballot introduced in UK". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2013 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=997, accessed 23 November 2024.]