Now we know why union bosses don't believe in the secret ballot: they don't really know what a secret ballot looks like.

Film crew union IATSE recently conducted a vote of its members to ratify its contract proposal with Hollywood producers. The union bosses sent each member a large packet containing the proposal, a ballot, and two reply envelopes.

After marking the ballot, members were instructed to put the ballot in a white envelope (which does not include any identifying information), and then put the white envelope in a blue envelope (which does include identifying information).

The problem? The white envelopes were see-through, meaning union bosses could automatically throw out votes opposing the union boss line. Worse, because the outer envelope contains the voter's name, union goons would also know which members voted which way.

No wonder union bosses complain the secret ballot doesn't work.