A ballot that isn't truly secret
If someone can find out how you voted, they can buy your vote or pressure you into it. A secret ballot isn't just privacy — it's what makes vote-buying and coercion impossible to enforce.
Explainer video coming soon
A 60-second, plain-language walkthrough of this gap.
What actually happened
In Clay County, Kentucky, a federal jury convicted eight people in 2010 — including a circuit judge and other county officials — in a scheme that bought votes across the 2002, 2004 and 2006 elections. Prosecutors said more than $400,000, some of it drug proceeds, was pooled to buy the votes of over 8,000 people, often around $50 each. Vote-buying at that scale only works when buyers can confirm how people voted — which is exactly what a truly secret ballot prevents.
Where it stands today
The Clay County convictions date to 2010, but the principle is timeless and current: wherever a ballot's secrecy can be pierced, vote-buying and coercion become enforceable. The figure above measures today's legal guarantees of ballot secrecy.
Secrecy is a security feature, not a nicety
We think of the secret ballot as privacy. It's really protection. The logic is simple: a vote-buyer or a bully only succeeds if they can verify how you actually voted. If no one can check, no one can buy or coerce your vote — there's nothing to enforce.
So when secrecy is only procedurally protected, the door to coercion and vote-buying opens.
What it looks like when it breaks
In Clay County, Kentucky, a federal jury convicted eight people in 2010 — including a circuit judge and other county officials — in a scheme that bought votes across the 2002, 2004 and 2006 elections. Prosecutors described more than $400,000, some of it drug proceeds, pooled to buy the votes of over 8,000 people, often around $50 apiece. Vote-buying on that scale depends on one thing: being able to confirm how people actually voted.
How TrustVoting closes it
Secrecy is enforced by design: no record links a voter to their selections, and the verifiable paper trail proves the count without ever exposing how any individual voted.
How TrustVoting closes it
TrustVoting enforces ballot secrecy by design — no record links a voter to their selections, and the verifiable paper trail proves the count without ever revealing individual choices.