Claim:
In Indiana, who you voted for becomes public record. No ratings given at this time
Context Although certain aspects of voter registration can be seen via public voter lists that vary state by state, votes for specific candidates remain secret all across America including Indiana. Although an allegation to this effect surfaced through text messaging from Indiana Republican Party’s committeeman to that effect has yet to be confirmed or deny.
On Nov. 4 2024 – one day before Election Day in the US – Indiana Republican Party sent out an anonymous text message asserting, “Voting records are public – your friends, neighbors and family will know whether you supported Donald Trump when it mattered most!”
A screenshot of this text message was shared online via social media with the comment, “Who you vote for is private.” Several other users also voiced their disagreement with its use as “nothing more than voter intimidation from parties that specialize in it”. The Indiana Democratic Party issued their opinion as to its motivations behind sending these texts and its role as voter intimidators.
Another person posted, “It is public knowledge that someone voted, while their actual votes remain private – as always with Republicans they lie.”
(@AdamWren on X) While some information regarding one’s vote or voting status is accessible publicly, ballot information remains private in every U.S. state — Indiana included.
Specific details vary across states, but when an individual registers to vote in Indiana certain pieces of his/her information become public record and thus legally required for disclosure during certain campaigns or other contexts such as voter lists for analysis purposes. Access can be requested from various entities that request access such as:
Political parties, independent candidates, a member of the media to publish an editorial in a news broadcast or newspaper; chief justice of the Supreme Court and clerks of U.S. district courts to administer jury management system; speaker and minority leader of House of Representatives as well as president pro tempore/minority leader/minority leader of Senate;.
Votes cast by any individual are protected nationwide according to the Election Assistance Commission (emphasis added):
Voter files vary in price, availability and content depending on which state they exist in, but never include information regarding who voted in an election as this information remains private – known as a “secret ballot.” However, their files can contain other pertinent details, including their partisan affiliation, participation history (for voters who vote via mail it can often be updated upon receiving their ballot), voting methods used (either mail- or in person voting may delay updating these histories until after results of elections have been certified) etc.
Indiana law protects privacy when accessing public lists; data such as date of birth, driver’s license number, gender, telephone number and email address remain private even when making requests from public lists.
According to a report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), secret ballot voting or “Australian secret ballot” first entered American society in 1888 in Louisville Kentucky and Massachusetts state elections, according to CRS reports.
Prior to secret ballot voting, voting would typically involve either verbally announcing one’s vote, or depositing tickets printed by political parties into public ballot boxes in public view for voting purposes. According to Donald A. DeBats’ “No Secrets There: Secrecy in Voting in American History: No Secrets There”,
Both forms of voting had similar results: individual votes could either be seen (party tickets) or heard (viva voice), making their results knowable to voters and easily discerned from one election to the next. This pattern pervaded American political history up until the threshold of the twentieth century; public voting made perfect sense at that time: political choices were seen as public matters rather than personal ones and voting secretively would only serve individual interests rather than group or communal ones.
According to CRS’ report, this lack of privacy had serious ramifications on elections: It made it easier for individuals engaged in vote buying to ensure that voters cast ballots as planned while making it more difficult for voters themselves to protect their selections from those trying to coerce or intimidate them into changing them.”
By the close of the 19th century, 38 states had adopted secret ballot voting. When South Carolina joined them in 1950, complete nationwide adoption took place.
Snopes has reached out to the Indiana Republican Party to confirm whether this alleged text message originated or was authorized by them and will update this article as we receive any responses. (function(f,b,e,v,n,tss), return;n=if(fbq=function()n.callMethod?.
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