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Before the Ballot Act of 18th July, 1872, the British electorate were expected to declare their preferred candidate publicly at hustings, often under pressure from their employers and landlords, and plied with alcohol supplied by the politicians standing for election, in a process known as \u2018soaking\u2019.\nOver the years, alternatives had been put forward - including Jeremy Bentham\u2019s concept of 1818, which involved a multitude of secret boxes with viewing windows - before the modern idea of private booths and a ballot box came to the fore.\xa0\nIn this episode, Arion, Rebecca and OIly explain why many voters saw secret ballots as sneaky and cowardly; explain how Australia beat Britain when it came to instituting voting in secret; and discover the teething problems experienced when Pontefract became the first town to test out the new process\u2026\nFurther Reading:\n\u2022 \u2018Britain's first secret ballot\u2019 (BBC News, 2015): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-31630588\n\u2022 \u2018Rhodri Marsden's Interesting Objects: Pontefract's secret ballot box\u2019 (The Independent, 2015): https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rhodri-marsden-s-interesting-objects-pontefract-s-secret-ballot-box-a114506.html\n\u2022 \u2018What was the Secret Ballot? | The Ballot Act 1872\u2019 (Royal Holloway University London, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M8Lix4FgUM\nFor bonus material and to support the show, visit\xa0Patreon.com/Retrospectors\nWe'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:\xa0podfollow.com/Retrospectors\nThe Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.\nTheme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King.\nCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2022.\n Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices