2007/08/29 by Annabelle Lever, ANNABELLE LEVER
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Political Theory and Influence #Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought
paper · doi:10.1017/s0953820807002634
openalex publication_date 2007/08/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In Considerations on Representative Government , John Stuart Mill concedes that secrecy in voting is sometimes justified but, nonetheless, maintains that it should be the exception rather than the rule. This article critically examines Mill's arguments. It shows that Mill's idea of voting depends on a sharp public/private distinction which is difficult to square with democratic ideas about the different powers and responsibilities of voters and their representatives, or with legitimate differences of belief and interest amongst voters themselves. Hence, it concludes, we should reject the assumption, which many of us share with Mill, that the secret ballot is justified only on prudential grounds and recognize how central privacy is to any democratic conception of citizenship and politics.