Election Day is Nov. 5, but millions of voters nationwide have already started casting their ballots early for the 2024 general election.
A 2022 study by the University of New Mexico found that over 70% of voters believe it is possible to learn someone’s vote choices without their consent.
But manysocialmediapostssuggest that while people can look up your voter registration information, they cannot see who you actually voted for because it’s private.
VERIFY readers Teresa and William asked if people can see who you voted for after the election.
THE QUESTION
Can people see who you voted for after an election?
THE SOURCES
- Congressional Research Service
- A report by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Verified Voting Foundation and the Common Cause Education Fund
- Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
- National Association of State Election Directors
- National Conference of State Legislatures
- Campaign Legal Center
- Peoria County Election Commission
- Fresh Starts Registry, an online registry that supports people through major life milestones
THE ANSWER
No, people cannot see who you voted for after an election.
WHAT WE FOUND
All of our sources agree that while your voter registration information is public record, people cannot see who voted for after an election. That’s because voters have a right to cast a secret ballot in all 50 states, meaning who you actually vote for is private information.
“Whether you voted is public information, but who you voted for is not,” the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) says on its website. “Ballot secrecy is built into every step of the elections process, and it is not possible for election officials to know who an individual voter voted for.”
The Fresh Starts Registry, an online registry that launched the “It’s Your Vote” and the “Vote Without Fear” campaigns in October, agrees.
“Your voter registration information is public — this can include that you voted, your address, and the party you are registered for. Now here’s the important part — WHO you actually vote for on the ballot is not public information,” the Fresh Starts Registry says.
When it comes to accessing a person’s voter registration information, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) says political parties, candidates and the public may receive voter names, addresses, political party affiliations, and a person’s voting history, such as when they voted. The price, availability and type of data in a person’s voter file varies state-by-state, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
But a person’s voter registration record does not include information on who a person voted for. This is known as ballot secrecy, which is guaranteed by law in all states, according to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
“The right to cast a secret ballot has been a mainstay of the U.S. system of governance for the last hundred years,” the NCSL says. “Voting in secret, as opposed to a voice vote that was more common in the early part of U.S. history, guards against coercion and bribery.”
According to a report published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the Verified Voting Foundation and the Common Cause Education Fund in 2016, 44 states have constitutional provisions that guarantee secrecy in voting, and the 6 remaining states and Washington, D.C. have statutory provisions to do so.
Election officials have certain safeguards in place to protect voters’ choices from being viewed by others in person and by mail, “including the election officials themselves,” according to CISA.
For in-person voting, CISA says that “privacy measures include dividers between voting stations and requirements that poll workers maintain a distance from voters while they’re casting their ballots.”
Meanwhile, for absentee, mail-in and provisional voting, “election officials follow strict procedures to ensure ballot secrecy when ballots are retrieved from mail-in and provisional ballot envelopes,” according to CISA.
Twenty states, Guam and the Virgin Islands all require absentee voters to be provided with a secrecy sleeve — a paper document intended to protect voters’ privacy by separating their identity and signature from their ballot, the NCSL says.
Although not required by law, other states and jurisdictions may also choose to provide secrecy sleeves. In Maryland and Michigan, for example, local election boards can choose whether to include them, according to the NCSL. Meanwhile, Iowa requires secrecy sleeves only in certain circumstances, such as if the ballot cannot be folded to hide all of the votes cast on the ballot.
CISA notes that ballot secrecy rights may be voluntarily waived by voters in certain circumstances. For instance, a waiver may be required for military and overseas voters who vote by fax or e-mail.
“With few exceptions, these security measures ensure that individual ballots, once cast, cannot be traced back to the voters who cast them,” CISA says.