The (secret) Ballot

Probably, you won’t have seen the item of this theme yet, the ballot paper, unless a teacher has brought one into classroom. You certainly will not have used it, unless you are already 18 and have voted in regional or national elections. Nevertheless, you have already voted, in classroom your class representatives and in school the heads of student body.

Certain rules are self-evident for our actual European society: suffrage has to be universal, free, equal and secret. The ballot is structuring participation and co-determination on all levels of our society. Was this always the case? Of course, not. And if you take a look at history, you will discover even different understandings of ballot within historical democracies, for not to speak of other forms of government.