The Association to Improve Government, in its Mission Statement, expresses the objective to require secret ballot voting by all political bodies at all levels of government. This concept is described in more detail in its Position Paper outlining the concept and how this change would eliminate political corruption.
The initial reaction of most individuals, when presented with this idea, is fairly consistent.
It is typically expressed in the following key points:
1. The electorate has the right to know how their elected representatives vote on any issue.
2. Knowing their voting record will allow individuals to decide whether to support them in the next election.
3. Politicians must be held accountable.
4. Secret ballot at the governmental level would hide this knowledge from the electorate.
5. We can’t trust politicians.
The existing political process operates accordingly and all political levels of government have an open ballot procedure for almost all issues brought to a vote. This is a generally accepted principle for all democratic governments on a global basis.
The Association’s position is that this specific aspect of the governmental process actually causes most of the problems that the electorate abhor about politics. This opinion is based on well-understood principles of human nature and are especially connected to the subject of Group Dynamics.
There is little doubt that today’s society is disenchanted with politics at a global level. This paper is aimed at highlighting the pros and cons of the issue of secret vs open ballot in all political bodies and suggest a solution that will improve government at local, state, national and global levels.
The Concentration of Power
The principles of democracy generally express the concept that society will move in a direction dictated by the general population within the confines of some broader guidelines like a constitution or bill of rights. In this system, citizens elect representatives in public elections where the voting is by secret ballot. Historically, before secret ballot, public elections were rife with corruption, vote buying, coercion and powerful individuals could exert pressure to assure their candidate was elected and they could influence the decisions of the political body.
Secret ballot eliminated the ability of special interest groups and powerful individuals by eliminating their ability to verify that voters were conforming to their demands. Today, secret ballot for all public elections is globally accepted as the only reasonable method to assure the outcome truly represents the will of the people.
At the next level of the political process, secret ballot is not the method of choice. In fact, the attitude of the public is strongly opposed to this concept. The idea that the electorate has the right to know how their representatives vote on all issues is clearly the dominant public opinion.
It is clear today that our representatives are not free to vote their conscience on any significant issue. They must conform to the will of special interest groups, powerful organizations and influential individuals that have their own interests as paramount. This concentrates power in the hands of the few and has perpetuated the public disenchantment with all things political. The public and the media usually focus on specific politicians and their actions when assigning blame. We are inundated with story after story on corrupt practices, payoffs and actions that everyone knows are at least immoral and at worst illegal.
Any politician who does not conform to the demands of his party, special interest groups, financial supporters or other powerful factions is faced with everything from censure, loss of his job, withdrawal of financial support, active protesters and even physical threats. This allows a small minority of individuals to exercise power over the political process.
The Association to Improve Government sees this concentration of power as a systemic problem that can be eliminated. The objective is to take away the ability of politicians, party leaders, special interest groups and influence peddlers to exercise their power to coerce or corrupt the decisions of governments anywhere. To that end, we see the secret ballot requirement as the only way to eliminate this negative aspect of government.
If all votes by governing bodies were carried out by secret ballot:
1. Representatives could not sell their vote to these questionable organizations nor would they be forced to bend to their pressure.
2. These special interest groups would not be able to verify they “got what they paid for” and would therefore not be in a position to control the outcome of votes.
3. Both of the above immoral/illegal actions were commonplace before secret ballot became the law of the land at the public election level and they are virtually non-existent in today’s election process.
Today, open balloting at the governmental level continues to allow powerful people and special interest groups to control government. This concentrates power in the hands of a few as opposed to allowing the principles of democracy to flourish. The Association to Improve Government would like to change this by establishing a movement that will require secret balloting for all political bodies at all levels of government.
You can be part of the solution. Visit the Improve Government website, review the concept and join the Association to Improve Government.