Ballot secrecy compromised in NM, other states

[babylonsister]

Ballot secrecy compromised in NM, other states

By BARRY MASSEY
Associated Press Writer


SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- Retired state worker Joyce Pankey cast her absentee ballot in New Mexico's primary election last month thinking that she alone knew which of the candidates she favored.

Wrong.

For Pankey and hundreds of voters in New Mexico, and potentially those in a handful of other states, the secret ballot is not so secret. It's possible to learn the identities of voters and which candidates they supported by checking public records. Detailed election data, which that lawmakers have demanded to help them with their campaigns and redistricting, often is the culprit .

"It shocks the hell out of me," Pankey said when an Associated Press reporter recently told her how she had voted and how that could be determined. She was the only person to cast an absentee ballot in her Santa Fe precinct.

Ballot secrecy is a bedrock principle of the nation's electoral system, but it's compromised in places like New Mexico, Florida and California, where election results are broken down with precinct-by-precinct tallies for different types of ballots.

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