George v. Municipal Election Commission of the City of Charleston 516 S.E.2d 206 335 S.C. 182, 516 S.E.2d 206 (Cite as: 335 S.C. 182, 516 S.E.2d 206) since at least 1907, when the Court interpreted a provision in the original 1895 constitution for voting "by ballot" to mean voting by secret ballot. State ex rel. Birchmore v. State Bd. of Canvassers, 78 S.C. 461, 468-69, 59 S.E. 145, 147 (1907); see also State v. Shaw, 9 S.C. 94, 132-45 (1877) (plainly indicating, while interpreting 1868 state constitution, that voting "by ballot" impliedly means by secret ballot). *188Section 1 of Article II was amended in 1971 to include the term "secret ballot." Act No. 277, 1971 Acts 319. FN3. Section 1 of Article II states in full: All elections by the people shall be by secret ballot, but the ballots shall not be counted in secret. The right of suffrage, as regulated in this Constitution, shall be protected by laws regulating elections and prohibiting, under adequate penalties, all undue influence from power, bribery, tumult, or improper conduct. The Legislature explicitly has declared "[t]he right to vote of each person so entitled and the secrecy of the ballot shall be preserved at all times." S.C.Code Ann. § 7-13-130 (1976). That legislative goal is evident in several statutory provisions. See S.C.Code Ann. § 7-13-1830 (1976) (after helping a voter understand how to use a voting machine, the poll managers "shall, before the voter has voted, retire and such voter shall cast his ballot in secret"); S.C.Code Ann. § 7-13-771(D) (Supp.1998) (after an elderly or handicapped person votes in his or her vehicle outside a polling place, the voter "must fold [the ballot] so that the secrecy of the ballot is preserved and return it to the managers waiting outside the vehicle. The managers shall carry the ballot to the ballot box, taking care not to violate the secrecy of the ballot, and after detaching the stub, deposit the ballot in the ballot box"); S.C.Code Ann. 7-13-1380 (1976) ("The State Election Commission in specifying the form of the ballot shall provide for ballot secrecy in connection with write-in votes"). History demonstrates the importance of the secret ballot. In the early years of our nation, voters expressed their preferences orally or by a showing of hands. With the advent of paper ballots in the late 1700s, individuals prepared their own handwritten ballots at home, marked them, and took them to the polling place. Later, political parties and candid- Page 4 ates printed their own specially colored or designed paper ballots for voters to use. None of the methods was secret and all were open to widespread intimidation of voters, fraud, and violence. Burson v. Freeman, 504 U.S. 191, 200-206, 112 S.Ct. 1846, 1852-54, 119 L.Ed.2d 5, 15-19 (1992) (upholding Tennessee statute prohibiting solicitation of votes and display of campaign materials within 100 feet of entrance to polling place); G.H. Utter and R.A. Strickland, Campaign and Election Reform: A Reference Handbook, 8-9 (1997); Wright and Graham, Federal Practice and Procedure: Evidence, § 5632 (1992) (discussing history of secret ballot in connection with rejected rule of evidence on voter's privilege). Polling places on Election Day, unlike today's typical experience of waiting quietly in line, often were "scenes of battle, murder, and sudden death." In addition to real violence, *189 sham battles were staged to frighten away elderly and timid voters. Burson v. Freeman, 504 U.S. at 202- 04, 112 S.Ct. at 1853-54, 119 L.Ed.2d at 16-17. One writer described Election Day in 1856, for example, as a "knockdown, dragged-out fight" in many areas of the country. Thugs forced voters at the polls to reveal their voting ticket, then beat or shot them and forcibly tore up the opposing party's ticket if they refused to vote as ordered. Sheriffs were unable to find men willing to risk their lives to control the violent mobs. In his 1931 autobiography, journalist Lincoln Steffens, commenting on a more peaceable form of vote solicitation, observed that the going rate for a vote in his Connecticut hometown was $2.50 to $2.75. J. Mitchell, How to Get Elected: An Anecdotal History of Mud-Slinging, Red-Baiting, Vote-Stealing and Dirty **210 Tricks in American Politics, 45-46, 88 (1992). To combat violence and corruption, most states adopted the secret ballot-- sometimes called the Australian ballot system because it was first used in that country--and other measures in the 1880s and 1890s. Burson v. Freeman, supra; Utter & Strickland, at 42-46. When explaining the importance of the secret ballot to our system of representative democracy, the reasons most often given are to reduce or eliminate the potential intimidation of voters, to reduce or eliminate the chance for voters who are willing to sell their votes to prove they have "delivered the goods" by allowing someone to © 2006 Thomson/West. No Claim to Orig. U.S. Govt. Works. 223