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The record

Nobody can find out how you voted

Some people are telling us they are afraid to vote against the president because they think the vote can be traced back to them and punished later. The fear is understandable. The premise is false, and the law on this is unusually clear.

Your ballot has no name on it. When you vote in person, the ballot you mark carries no name, voter number or other identifier. It goes into the tabulator with every other ballot in the precinct. There is no record anywhere that links a marked ballot to the person who marked it. The only way anyone learns how you voted is if you tell them (NPR Illinois, KHOU Verify).

What is public, and what is not. Voter registration is a public record in most states: your name, address, party (where parties are registered) and your voting history, meaning which elections you voted in. That is where the "we know you voted" mailers come from. Who you voted for is not part of that record and never has been (Kansas City Star, KQED).

It is the law, not a courtesy. Florida Statute 101.041, "Secret voting": in all elections "the voting shall be by secret, official ballot" (Florida Senate). North Carolina G.S. 163-165.1(e): voted ballots and paper and electronic records of individual voted ballots "shall be treated as confidential," with access limited to election officials performing their duties (NC General Assembly). Every state's constitution or election code has an equivalent secret-ballot guarantee (NPR Illinois).

Mail ballots are secret too. Your signature is on the outer envelope, not the ballot. Before anything is counted, the envelope is separated from the ballot inside; in Florida this happens at a public canvassing board meeting using teams of workers so that no one sees both the name and the marked ballot (Flagler County Supervisor of Elections). Secrecy sleeves exist for the same reason (Kansas City Star).

How to keep it that way. Do not photograph your marked ballot and do not post it. North Carolina law prohibits photographing or videotaping a voted ballot; other states discourage it for the same reason (NC State Board of Elections). If anyone pressures you about how you will vote, you can say anything you like and vote however you like; the booth is the one place nobody can follow you.

If you are turned away or challenged at the polls, ask for a provisional ballot. Section 302 of the Help America Vote Act gives you that right in any federal election, and the marked ballot goes into a secrecy envelope inside the provisional envelope, so identity and ballot stay separated there too (U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Election Assistance Commission).

Find your polling place and hours in about 10 seconds: dumptrump.win/vote.

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