The voting experience and beliefs about ballot secrecy

New democracies go to great lengths to implement institutional protections of the electoral process.However, in this paper we present evidence that shows that even in the United States-where the secret ballot has been in place for generations-doubts about the secrecy of the voting process are surprisingly prevalent.Many say that their cast ballot can be matched to their name or that others could observe their vote choices while they were voting.We find that people who have not previously voted are particularly likely to harbor doubts about the secrecy of voters' ballots.Those who vote by mail in the privacy of their own homes also feel that others are able to discover their vote choices.Taken together, these findings suggest an important divergence between public perceptions about and the institutional status of the secret ballot in the United States, a divergence that may affect patterns of voting behavior and political participation. Democratic citizenshipDemocracies are often defined by the rules and procedures that govern their elections.Great effort is put forth to create a system of laws and procedures that promote "fair elections" where the outcome is likely to be widely viewed as legitimate and losing factions accept defeat in peace.Many of these rules and procedures are designed so that all citizens can make choices on their ballots as they see fit and participate in the political process without fear of harassment from employers, neighbors, and elected officials.However, formal rules and institutions may only have their intended effect if people understand how they are structured and believe that they work.We investigate whether perceptions of the operation of a key democratic institution, the secret ballot, deviate from the legal and practical reality of that institution.Such deviations may be consequential.Lack of information (or misinformation) about the secrecy of the voting process may affect who votes and, perhaps, which candidates voters support on Election Day [1-3].More broadly, doubts about ballot secrecy or the functioning of other institutionseven institutions that objectively appear to work quite well-may foster a sense that the state lacks legitimacy.This may also lead to public demands for unnecessary, costly, or counter-productive changes to institutional rules or procedures.