It is interesting that political democracy itself relies on a particular communication system in which the transmittal of authentic evidence is precluded: the mandatory secret ballot is a scheme to deny the voter any means of proving which way he voted. Being stripped of his power to prove how he voted, he is stripped of his power to be intimidated. Powerless to prove whether or not he complied with a threat, he knows—and so do those who would threaten him—that any punishment would be unrelated to the way he actually voted.

XREF: Connects to conspiracy theory literature on the function of secrecy as a defense against coercion and intimidation networks.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 52