Government-issued Ballot, Camden, Maine, 1894. Maine State Museum.
Government-issued Ballot, Camden, Maine, 1894. Maine State Museum.
The Maine legislature enacted a law in 1891 ensuring that voters could elect candidates without revealing their choices in public. Prior to the secret ballot, Maine employers might pressure employees to "vote right" and sometimes fired or refused to hire men who did not share their political beliefs. A key mandate of the secret ballot law was that each voter received government-printed ballots that listed all of the candidates. Prior to this, parties issued tickets of different sizes and colors enabling observers to identify which party ticket a voter placed in the ballot box.
This ballot is from Camden Maine in 1894, an early example of the secret ballot law in effect. The ballot lists state and county candidates in four political parties.