It's interesting to see the right attempt to frame the battle of the Employee Free Choice Act as one as  where they are protecting a sacred right, that of a secret ballot, enshrined in the Constitution by the Founding Fathers. It's actually nowhere to be found in the Constitution. Not surprising since the secret ballot dates to 1856. It's an Australian invention hence the secret ballot is also called the Australian ballot. The English would adopt the procedure in 1872. Its adoption elsewhere was much slower.

In the United States, the history of the secret ballot is a short one nor was its initial implementation in the US some paragon of democratic virtue either. As with much of American history, there are myths and then there is the truly mythical. The secret ballot forms part of the latter. The fight for expansion of the suffrage has been long and exhaustive nor are we by any means done. The sad truth is the secret ballot was introduced in Louisville in 1888 as a means of curtailing suffrage, not expanding it (the Utah territory did use a secret ballot in 1878 in an experiment but Louisville's adoption is the first sustained use of the Australian-style ballot).

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