Ballot is the means by which voters indicate their choices in an election. The ballot lists the candidates and describes the issues that voters are to decide. A ballot may be a printed form, or it may be displayed electronically on a screen. In the United States and in many other countries, computerized voting machines are widely used to record and count ballots.
In the United States,
the written ballot was used in Massachusetts as early as 1634. By the time the Constitution was ratified, nearly all the original 13 states used written ballots.
Before 1800, political groups distributed tickets that listed the names of candidates they favored. Voters could use these tickets as ballots but found it hard to vote for candidates not on the list. Sometimes they scratched the ticket, crossing off the party’s choice and writing in another name.
Voters did not always have the privilege of a secret ballot, and coercion and bribery were common. To correct these evils, Kentucky and Massachusetts adopted the Australian ballot system in 1888. In this system, each voter receives a printed ballot at the polling place, and then marks it in secret in a curtained booth. The voting machine uses a form of Australian ballot.
Some states use the party column ballot in general elections. On this ballot, candidates are listed according to party. The party column ballot makes it easier for voters to vote a straight ticket (vote for candidates of one party only). Other states use the office-block ballot. This ballot lists candidates according to the office they seek, making it easier for voters to vote for candidates from different parties. A ballot on which votes have been cast for candidates of different parties is called a split ticket. Because candidates whose names are first on a ballot often receive the most votes, many states have the names rotated as the ballots are printed.
Sometimes so many candidates are chosen at one election that ballots are several feet or a meter long. Some states have tried to simplify the ballot by reducing the number of offices filled by election. This short ballot centralizes the responsibility of government in a small body of elected officials, who appoint other officials.
From the 1960’s to the first decade of the 2000’s, people in many election districts voted by punching holes in punch-card ballots. Punch-card ballots are mounted on voting machines and counted by computer. The small piece of paper punched out of the card to create a hole is called a chad. This method allowed high-speed processing of election totals. But critics argued that confusing ballot layouts could cause voters to accidentally punch their ballots incorrectly. In addition, computers might not properly count ballots if the chads had not been completely punched out. In 2000, debates regarding partially punched chads and a “butterfly” ballot layout—in which candidates’ names were arranged on both sides of the chad-punching area—were largely responsible for a delay in announcing the outcome of the presidential election. Since then, most districts have switched to other voting methods, such as touch-screen computer systems and systems that involve the optical scanning of hand-marked paper ballots.
Older customs.
The word ballot comes from the French word ballotte, meaning a little ball. In ancient Athens, judges of the highest court generally gave their verdicts by dropping stone or metal balls into boxes. Balls that were pierced in the center or colored black stood for verdicts of condemnation. Unpierced or white balls meant acquittal. Some clubs now use white and black balls to vote on new members. Persons not admitted are said to be blackballed.
The Romans generally used wooden tickets, or tabellae. When a change in law was proposed, those in favor marked the ballot with the letters U R, for Uti rogas, meaning as you ask. A vote against the change was indicated by the letter A for Antiguo, meaning for the old. In an election of candidates for public office, names of the candidates were written on ballots. During the Middle Ages, voting fell into disuse but was revived in the Italian communes in the 1200’s. Ballots were used in England in the 1500’s, and in the Netherlands in the 1600’s.
