Assuming, but without deciding, that the Federal Constitution or statutes require a secret ballot,
the party lever does not deprive voters of a secret ballot. No one outside the booth can tell for which candidates or party a ballot has been cast, or indeed, whether an elector has voted for any candidates at all. Plaintiffs' claim of an unsecret ballot amounts actually only to the possibility that a voter may be subjected to an accusation of a lack of party fealty for having split his vote, a far cry from an unsecret ballot. Even this accusation may be wholly false, for a voter may finally vote a straight ticket after rejecting certain candidates by pushing their individual keys back up. For all practical intents and purposes, the Connecticut procedure is a secret ballot.