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Anonymity is one of the desirable requirements of voting process in elections. Are there states where voting is not anonymous i.e. who voted whom is public?

Brythan
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akm
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    US States, or "states" as in countries? – T.E.D. Apr 24 '17 at 17:58
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    @T.E.D. Or Mexican or German or Indian or Australian states? I suspect that any such state, or indeed a state in the sense of "country," would suffice as an answer to this question. – phoog Apr 24 '17 at 19:24
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    Worth noting, not all voting is desired to be anonymous. We like to say that it is desirable for the public to be able to vote in anonymity, but some votes, such as those cast be electors in the US electoral college, are explicitly public by design. – Cort Ammon Apr 24 '17 at 20:07
  • @phoog - Well, its a pretty simple answer, but which pretty simple answer depends on what was meant by "states". – T.E.D. Apr 24 '17 at 21:07
  • @CortAmmon I'm not sure your example holds. Accountability reduces the viability of faithlessness, which if it wasn't desired could be removed entirely. –  Apr 24 '17 at 21:39
  • @notstoreboughtdirt Which implies that not all elections are trying to achieve the same set of desired outcomes. There's also many reasons behind each tweak we do to the voting process. For example, not only does the accountability reduce the viability of faithlessness, but it also makes the process of ratifying the vote far easier because there's no need to obscure the information being ratified. – Cort Ammon Apr 24 '17 at 21:48
  • I can't tell you which states, but I can tell you the election results. 99.99% for the government party... – gnasher729 Apr 24 '17 at 22:59
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    Non-private ballots were the norm until the late 19th century. Most votes in a partisan caucus are not cast by secret ballot, at least in Colorado. – ohwilleke Apr 25 '17 at 06:14
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    If historical examples are allowed, I think Prussia had an open ballot (and 3 clasees) voting system between 1850 and 1918. – Bregalad Apr 26 '17 at 06:40
  • Of course, but most of those you probably wouldn't consider very democratic (or any at all). – xuq01 May 09 '17 at 02:26

2 Answers2

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It seems that Nigeria uses an open ballot system in order to minimize potential for election fraud.

As @CortAmmon states in the comments above, public voting is desirable in some cases. For example, in a representative democracy, it is important for constituents to be able to audit the votes of their representatives, to make sure the representative is faithfully representing the constituents' interests.

walkie
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The Swiss Cantons of Apenzell and Glaris have a system where people vote in public, in the open air in front of everyone. The german name for that is Landsgemeinde, which translates roughtly in "Land's community".

Bregalad
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