ballot

Borrowed from Italian balota (obsolete), ballotta (“small ball, especially one used to register a vote”), from balla (“bale, bundle”) + -otta (suffix forming diminutive nouns); or from Middle French balote (obsolete), ballotte (“small ball used to register a vote”) (also compare Middle French balotiage, French ballottage (“second ballot, runoff”)); both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *ballu (“ball”), from Proto-Germanic *balluz (“ball”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbælət/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbælət/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bal‧lot
• Rhymes: -ælət

ballot (plural ballots)

1. (originally) A small ball placed in a container to cast a vote; now, by extension, a piece of paper or card used for this purpose, or some other means used to signify a vote.
   • 2020 September 14, Richard H. Pildes, “The three words that can avert an election nightmare”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Imagine if the outcome in Michigan is close, and 75% of Biden supporters vote absentee, yet 10% or more of those ballots are rejected.

   • 2024 March 17, Daniel Medina and Bob Ortega, “Emails show how a right-wing group steers GOP leaders on major policy issues”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     In Wyoming, a GOP state senator forwarded an FGA draft bill to Secretary of State Chuck Gray that would prohibit sending out unsolicited absentee ballot request forms.

2. The process of voting, especially in secret; a round of voting.
   • July 1836, A. B. (initials of author), London and Westminster Review Article XI, Bribery and Intimidation at Elections

     the insufficiency of the ballot

   • 2023 March 9, Mel Holley, “TSSA accepts offer, but RMT sets new strike dates”, in RAIL, number 978, page 11:

     In the TSSA ballot, 80% of management grade and 60% of general grade members voted to accept, on an overall turnout of 57%.

3. The total of all the votes cast in an election.
4. (chiefly US) A list of candidates running for office; a ticket.

• (paper or card used to cast a vote): ballot paper, voting slip

ballot (third-person singular simple present ballots, present participle balloting, simple past and past participle balloted)

1. (intransitive) To vote or decide by ballot.

   to ballot for a candidate

2. (intransitive) To draw lots.
3. (transitive) To invite to vote on a proposal.

   The trade union balloted its members for strike action.

• reballot

• blackballing (also derived from the old practice of using balls to vote)

• ballot on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

From balle +‎ -ot.

• IPA^(key): /ba.lo/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o

ballot m (plural ballots)

1. bundle, package
2. (informal, derogatory) fool, nitwit

• C'est ballot

• “ballot”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈpalloh(t)/

ballot

1. first-person plural imperative of ballat