(a) A prime requisite of elections regulated by title IV is that
they be held by secret ballot among the members or in appropriate cases
by representatives who themselves have been elected by secret ballot
among the members. A secret ballot under the Act is ``the expression by
ballot, voting machine, or otherwise, but in no event by proxy, of a
choice * * * cast in such a manner that the person expressing such
choice cannot be identified with the choice expressed.'' \47\ Secrecy
may be assured by the use of voting machines, or, if paper ballots are
used, by providing voting booths, partitions, or other physical
arrangements permitting privacy for the voter while he is marking his
ballot. The ballot must not contain any markings which upon examination
would enable one to identify it with the voter. Balloting by mail
presents special problems in assuring secrecy. Although no particular
method of assuring such secrecy is prescribed, secrecy may be assured by
the use of a double envelope system for return of the voted ballots with
the necessary voter identification appearing only on the outer envelope.
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\47\ Act, sec. 3(k).
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(b) Should any voters be challenged as they are casting their
ballots, there should be some means of setting aside the challenged
ballots until a decision regarding their validity is reached without
compromising the secrecy requirement. For example, each such ballot
might be placed in an envelope with the voter's name on the outside. Of
course, it would be a violation of the secrecy requirement to open these
envelopes and count the ballots one at a time in such a way that each
vote could be identified with a voter.
(c) In a mail ballot election, a union may require members to sign
the return envelope if the signatures may be used in determining
eligibility. However, it would be unreasonable for a union to void an
otherwise valid ballot merely because a member printed rather than
signed his name if the union does not use the signatures to determine
voter eligibility.
