diff --git a/helios/views.py b/helios/views.py
index 9b463ed4180145222ecc0aa6a7dd18b1133f6044..32691371fe90f3c05ef9efdea61bc039454ca3bd 100644
--- a/helios/views.py
+++ b/helios/views.py
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ def election_new(request):
   error = None
   
   if request.method == "GET":
-    election_form = forms.ElectionForm()
+    election_form = forms.ElectionForm(initial={'private_p': settings.HELIOS_PRIVATE_DEFAULT})
   else:
     election_form = forms.ElectionForm(request.POST)
     
diff --git a/settings.py b/settings.py
index 60c0bd376c35b51b35d5f0fa4dde651873d2111f..306679db12c105fed605610375f20c6e72faa1b5 100644
--- a/settings.py
+++ b/settings.py
@@ -144,6 +144,9 @@ HELIOS_ADMIN_ONLY = False
 HELIOS_VOTERS_UPLOAD = True
 HELIOS_VOTERS_EMAIL = True
 
+# are elections private by default?
+HELIOS_PRIVATE_DEFAULT = False
+
 # authentication systems enabled
 #AUTH_ENABLED_AUTH_SYSTEMS = ['password','facebook','twitter', 'google', 'yahoo']
 AUTH_ENABLED_AUTH_SYSTEMS = ['google']