William Boothby

Who was William Boothby?

William Robinson Boothby, was Electoral Commissioner for South Australia, in charge of every parliamentary election from 1856 to 1903.

Boothby was the eldest son of South Australian Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Boothby. William was born at Nottingham, England and emigrated to Australia with his parents during 1853

In 1854 he was appointed as Deputy-Sheriff and its electoral officer for the colony, he was promoted to Sheriff during 1856

He prepared the clauses of the South Australian Act of 1856 that instituted voting by ballot and those of the Act of 1858 that provided for the placing of a cross against the name of the favoured candidate. He based his reform on ballots pre-printed with the candidates names. In a manner similar to that still used widely today, the voter marked the form in secret and placed it in a sealed box. The ballots were collected and counted so that no one could be identified from their voting paper.

On 2 April 1856, South Australia enacted a law introducing the secret ballot, adopted two weeks earlier in Victoria.

This was a significant change from the then used English practice, where elections were conducted "on the voices". Voters assembled at local election centres where they called out the name of their chosen candidate, and the choice was then entered on a register. This public process made the voter vulnerable to both bribery and intimidation, and caused wide concern.