View source for Ballot Act 1872

{{Short description|United Kingdom law reforming the electoral system}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Ballot Act 1872<ref name=st>This [[short title]] was conferred on this act by [https://books.google.com/books?id=RQRVAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA212 section 33] of this act.</ref>
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An Act to amend the Law relating to Procedure at Parliamentary and Municipal Elections.
| year                  = 1872
| citation              = [[35 & 36 Vict.]] c. 33
| introduced_by         = [[Edward Aldam Leatham]]
| introduced_commons    =
| introduced_lords      =
| territorial_extent    = {{ubli|England and Wales|Scotland|Ireland}}
| royal_assent          = 18 July 1872
| commencement          = 18 July 1872
| expiry_date           = 31 December 1880
| repeal_date           =
| amends                =
| replaces              = {{ubli|[[Parliamentary Elections Act 1698]]|[[Parliamentary Elections, New Shoreham Act 1771]]|[[Parliamentary Elections (Cricklade) Act 1782]]|[[Oaths at Parliamentary Elections Act 1794]]|[[Oaths at Parliamentary Elections Act 1802]]|[[Parliamentary Elections Act 1803]]|[[Parliamentary Elections, Aylesbury Act 1804]]|[[Bribery, East Retford Act 1830]]|[[Burghs, etc. (Scotland) Act 1834]]|[[Royal Burghs, etc. (Scotland) Act 1834]]|[[Parliamentary Elections (Scotland) Act 1834]]|[[Parliamentary Elections (No. 2) Act 1836]]|[[Parliamentary Elections (Ireland) Act 1846]]|[[Parliamentary Elections (Scotland) Act 1855]]|[[Parliamentary Elections Act 1862]]|[[Parliamentary Elections (Scotland) Act 1865]]}}
| amendments            =
| repealing_legislation =
| related_legislation   = {{ubli|[[Representation of the People Act 1949]] ([[United Kingdom|UK]])|[[Electoral Act 1963]] ([[Republic of Ireland|RoI]])}}
| status                = repealed
| legislation_history   =
| theyworkforyou        =
| millbankhansard       =
| original_text         = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1872/33/pdfs/ukpga_18720033_en.pdf
| revised_text          =
| use_new_UK-LEG        =
| UK-LEG_title          =
| collapsed             =
}}
The '''Ballot Act 1872'''<ref name=st/> ([[35 & 36 Vict.]] c. 33) was an [[Act of Parliament (UK)|act]] of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] that introduced the requirement for [[elections in the United Kingdom|parliamentary and local government elections in the United Kingdom]] to be held by [[secret ballot]].<ref name=pnsarch>[https://archive.org/details/ballotactwithan00britgoog archive.org: "The Ballot Act, 1872, with an Introduction: Forming a Guide to the Procedure at Parliamentary and Municipal Elections", p. 97 (Fitzgerald, London, 1876)]</ref><ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/local-elections/10865271/Our-voting-system-is-flawed-but-politicians-dont-seem-to-care.html telegraph.co.uk: "Our voting system is flawed, but politicians don't seem to care" (Moore) 30 May 2014]</ref><ref>[http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/chartists/case-study/the-right-to-vote/the-chartists-and-birmingham/the-chartist-legacy/1872-ballot-act/ www.parliament.uk: 1872 Ballot Act] (archival record)</ref> The act abolished the traditional [[hustings]] system of nomination and election in Britain.<ref>Jon Lawrence, ''Electing Our Masters: The Hustings in British Politics from Hogarth to Blair'' (Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 45–48.</ref>
==Background==
Employers and landowners had been able to use their sway over employees and tenants to influence the vote, either by being present themselves or by sending representatives to check on the votes as they were being cast. Small retailers were also concerned not to upset their bigger customers by voting differently from them. Radicals, such as the [[Chartists]], had long campaigned for the system to end by the introduction of a secret ballot.<ref>[http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/struggle/chartists1/historicalsources/source8/secretballot.html bl.uk: "Learning - Dreamers and Dissenters: The Secret Ballot"], retrieved 31 May 2014</ref><ref>[http://www.salford.gov.uk/d/ballot-secrecy-2006.pdf salford.gov.uk: "Factsheet - December 2006: Ballot secrecy"], retrieved May 2014</ref>
The [[Representation of the People Act 1867]], or Second Reform Act, enfranchised the skilled working class in borough constituencies, and it was felt that their economic circumstances would cause such voters to be particularly susceptible to bribery, intimidation or blackmail.<ref name=first>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1870/feb/14/leave-first-reading LEAVE. FIRST READING. House of Commons Debates, MR. LEATHAM], 14 February 1870 vol 199 cc268-84 § 268</ref><ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1870/mar/16/second-reading SECOND READING. House of Commons Debate, MR. LEATHAM], 16 March 1870 vol 200 cc10-60 § 10</ref> The radical [[John Bright]] expressed concerns that tenants would face the threat of eviction if they voted against the wishes of their landlord. It fell to [[Edward Aldam Leatham]], the husband of Bright's sister, to introduce the Ballot Act on leave.<ref name=first/> The events are reflected in the 1867–1868 novel ''[[Phineas Finn]]''.
Many in [[the Establishment]] had opposed the introduction of a secret ballot. They felt that pressure from patrons on tenants was legitimate and that a secret ballot was simply unmanly and cowardly. [[John Russell, 1st Earl Russell|Lord Russell]] voiced his opposition to the creation of a culture of secrecy in elections, which he believed should be public affairs. He saw it as "an obvious prelude from [[household suffrage|household]] to [[universal suffrage]]".{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}
Election spending at the time was unlimited, and many voters would take bribes from both sides. While the secret ballot might have had some effect in reducing corruption in British politics, the [[Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act 1883]] formalised the position and is seen by many{{who|date=July 2017}} to have been the key legislation in the attempts to end electoral corruption.
The Ballot Act, in combination with the [[Municipal Elections Act 1875]]<ref>38 & 39 Vict, c.40</ref> and the [[Parliamentary Elections (Returning Officers) Act 1875]],<ref>38 & 39 Vict, c.84</ref> is considered to have ushered in today's electoral practices.<ref name=pnsarch/>
==Effects==
The secret ballot mandated by the Act was first used on [[Pontefract by-election, 1872|15 August 1872]] to [[Pontefract by-election, 1872|re-elect]] [[Hugh Childers]] as MP for [[Pontefract (UK Parliament constituency)|Pontefract]] in a [[ministerial by-election (UK)|ministerial by-election]], following his appointment as [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]].  The original [[ballot box]], sealed in wax with a liquorice stamp, is held at [[Pontefract museum]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/WryVwsknTr-aa4IQ-ID9iQ Pontefract's secret ballot box, 1872]</ref> Of those who voted, 16%, were illiterate, and special arrangements had to be made to record their previously-open oral votes.<ref>[https://thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/watched-with-considerable-curiosity-the-first-secret-ballot-in-britain-15-august-1872/ ‘Watched with considerable curiosity’: The first secret ballot in Britain, 15 August 1872], by Dr Kathryn Rix</ref>
The first general election using a secret ballot was in [[1874 United Kingdom general election|1874]], which saw the first Conservative majority elected since 1841.
The Ballot Act 1872 was of particular importance in [[Ireland]], as it enabled tenants to vote against the landlord class in parliamentary elections. The principal result of the Act was seen in the [[1880 United Kingdom general election|general election of 1880]], which marked the end of a landlord interest in both Ireland and Great Britain.<ref>''A Dictionary of Irish History'', D J Hickey & J E Doherty, Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 1980, p. 24. {{ISBN|0-7171-1567-4}}</ref>
Although the ballot in the UK is routinely characterized as "secret" the fact that ballot papers are numbered, and that the voter's electoral roll identifier is written on its identically numbered counterfoil by the officer issuing the ballot to the voter at the voting station, means that in principle the identity of a voter can be linked to the ballot they cast.<ref>[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199798/cmselect/cmhaff/768/8060208.htm Evidence by Professor Robert Blackburn to the Select Committee on Home Affairs, Minutes of Evidence given on 2nd June 1998]</ref>
===Abroad===
The Act inspired Belgian minister [[Jules Malou]] to implement a similar system in Belgium, which he did with the act of 9 July 1877 (''la loi du 9 juillet 1877 sur le secret du vote et les fraudes électorales'').<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_2003_num_81_2_4727|title="La marche des opérations électorales ". Bepalingen rond kiesverrichtingen in de Belgische kieswetgeving, 1830–1940|author=Donald Weber|journal=Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire |date=2003|volume=81 |issue=2 |pages=311–342 |doi=10.3406/rbph.2003.4727 |hdl=1854/LU-1149328 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The [[1878 Belgian general election|elections of 1878]] were a victory for the Liberal Party.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}
==See also==
* [[Postal voting]]
* [[Reform Acts]]
* [[Representation of the People Act]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
* Woodall, Robert. "The Ballot Act of 1872" ''History Today'' (July 1974), Vol. 24 Issue 7, pp 464–471 online.
{{UK electoral reform}}
[[Category:United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1872]]
[[Category:Election law in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Election legislation]]