UK 28 May 2015 How a liberal MP introduced the ballot box in the City of London In December 1837, the Fife Herald noted that it had been sent a “model of Mr Grote’s balloting box, which has been exhibited at many public meetings”. The modern ballot box, kin to that which George Grote encouraged. Photo: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Sign UpGet the New Statesman's Morning Call email. Sign-up The City of London elected four MPs to the House of Commons until 1885. George Grote was elected as one of four Liberals in 1832, serving until 1841. Grote – a philosopher radical who once gave money to Auguste Comte, the French founder of sociology – introduced an annual bill to parliament for the provision of the (secret) ballot. In December 1837, the Fife Herald noted that it had been sent a “model of Mr Grote’s balloting box, which has been exhibited at many public meetings”. The Newcastle Journal called it the “rat-trap ballot box”: voters had to punch the card with a piece of metal and then press a button so that the card fell into the box. The newspaper felt that this would disenfranchise the illiterate and the blind and, as such, “It will never do.” › How Friedrich Hayek became fascinated with the romance of Harriet Taylor and J S Mill This article appears in the 21 May 2015 issue of the New Statesman, The real opposition
