Ballot

A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election, and may be a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters.

Each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared. In the simplest elections, a ballot may be a simple scrap of paper on which each voter writes in the name of a candidate, but governmental elections use pre-printed to protect the secrecy of the votes. The voter casts his/her ballot in a box at a polling station.

In British English, this is usually called a "ballot paper". The word ballot is used for an election process within an organisation (such as a trade union "holding a ballot" of its members).

Etymology

The word ballot comes from Italian ballotta, meaning a “small ball used in voting” or a “secret vote taken by ballots” in Venice, Italy.

History

In ancient Greece, citizens used pieces of broken pottery to scratch in the name of the candidate in the procedures of ostracism.