{{Short description|Form of electoral fraud}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2026}} {{for|proxy voting on behalf of a child|Demeny voting}} {{Globalize|1=article|2=Europe|date=February 2026}} thumb|Two people in the same voting booth {{Voting}} '''Family voting''' is a form of electoral fraud, where family members enter a voting booth together and collude, discuss, or direct voting intentions.<ref name="dv-20180909">{{Cite news |date=2018-09-09 |title=Democracy Volunteers PRELIMINARY STATEMENT – Sweden General Election 09/09/18 |url=https://democracyvolunteers.org/2018/09/09/preliminary-statement-sweden-general-election-09-09-18/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20220327080704/https://democracyvolunteers.org/2018/09/09/preliminary-statement-sweden-general-election-09-09-18/ |archive-date=2022-03-27 |access-date=2026-02-27 |work=Democracy Volunteers |language=en-US}}</ref> Family voting violates the individual voter sovereignty<ref name="h204"/> and secret ballot principles of free and fair elections, by enabling undue influence and coercion during the voting process.<ref name="h204">{{cite journal | last=Schaffer | first=Frederic Charles | title=Not-So-Individual Voting: Patriarchal Control and Familial Hedging in Political Elections around the World | journal=Journal of Women, Politics & Policy | volume=35 | issue=4 | date=2014 | issn=1554-477X | doi=10.1080/1554477X.2014.955407 | pages=349–378 | url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1554477X.2014.955407 | access-date=2026-02-28| url-access=subscription }}</ref> It can also occur during postal voting.<ref name="h204"/>
Research in Turkey in 2019 suggested that family voting had been under-reported there.<ref name="p308">{{cite journal | last1=Toros | first1=Emre | last2=Birch | first2=Sarah | title=Who are the targets of familial electoral coercion? Evidence from Turkey | journal=Democratization | volume=26 | issue=8 | date=2019 | issn=1351-0347 | doi=10.1080/13510347.2019.1639151 | pages=1342–1361 | url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13510347.2019.1639151 | access-date=2026-02-28}}</ref> In 2023, the United Kingdom passed the Ballot Secrecy Act to make it an offence for a person to "accompany an elector into a polling booth; or position near an elector inside a polling station with the intention of influencing how they cast their vote".<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/lln-2022-0028/ |title=Ballot Secrecy Bill [HL]: HL Bill 15 of 2022–23 |last=Winchester |first=Nicole |date=11 July 2022 |publisher=House of Lords Library |archive-date=28 September 2022 |access-date=10 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928025710/https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/lln-2022-0028/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite legislation UK |type=act |year=2023 |chapter=12 |act=Ballot Secrecy Act }}</ref>
==See also== * {{anl|Demeny voting}}
== References == {{reflist}}
Category:Democracy Category:Electoral fraud