X-Nico

unusual facts about secret ballot



Putney Swope

Putney Swope, the only black man on the executive board of an advertising firm, is accidentally put in charge after the unexpected death of the chairman of the board: each board member actually believed that he, himself, should be elected chairman, but the bylaws of the corporation prohibit voting for oneself, so each individual member voted his secret ballot for the person that no one else would vote for: Putney Swope.


see also

Barry Sheerman

In June 2009, Sheerman called for a secret ballot of the Parliamentary Labour Party on whether Gordon Brown should continue in office as prime minister.

William Boothby

In the second half of the 19th century, the use of the secret ballot spread to the USA and to Europe; in 1892 Grover Cleveland became the first US President elected by Boothby’s system, universally referred to as 'the Australian ballot' for nearly a century.