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BALLOT (from Ital. ballotta, dim. of ...
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See also:BALLOT (from Ital. ballotta, dim. of balla, a See also:ball)
, the See also:modern method of See also:secret-voting employed in See also:political, legislative and judicial assemblies, and also in the proceedings of private clubs and corporations
.
The name comes from the use of a little ball279
dropped according to choice into the right receptacle ; but nowadays it is used for any See also:system of secret-voting, even though no such See also:ball is employed
.
In See also:ancient See also:Athens, the dicasts, in giving their See also:verdict, generally used balls of See also:
(libels()) and D
.
(damno) in the case of a public trial; in the case of an election, puncta were made opposite the names or See also:initials of the candidates
.
Tabellae were also used by the See also:Roman judices, who expressed their verdict or See also:judgment by the letters A
.
(absolve), C
.
(condemno), and N
.
L
.
(non liquet)
.
In modern times voting by ballot is usually by some See also:form of See also:writing, but the use of the ball still persists (especially in clubs), and a " black ball " is the See also:regular See also:term for a hostile See also:vote
.
See also:Great See also:Britain.—In Great Britain the ballot was suggested for use in See also:parliament by a political See also:tract of the See also:time of See also:
The See also:gradual emancipation of the See also:British parliament from. the See also:power of the See also:crown, and the See also:adoption of a strictly representative system of election, not only destroyed whatever See also:reason may once have existed for the ballot in deliberative voting, but rendered it essential that such voting should be open
.
It was in the agitations for See also:parliamentary reform at the beginning of the 19th See also:century that the demand for the ballot in parliamentary elections was first seriously made
.
The Benthamites advocated the system in 1817
.
At the so-called Peterloo See also:Massacre (1819) several See also:banners were inscribed with the ballot
.
O'Connell introduced a See also:bill on the subject in 183o; and the See also:original draft of See also:Lord See also: In South Australia (Electoral Act of 1858) the returning-officer put his initials on the voting-card, which the voter was directed, under See also:pain of nullity, to See also:fold so that the officer might not see the vote which was indicated by a See also:cross . In See also:Victoria, under the Electoral Act of 1865, the officer added to his initials a number corresponding to the voter's number on the See also:register . In See also:Tasmania the chief peculiarity was that (as in South Australia) the card was not put directly by the voter into the box, but handed to the officer, who put it there(this being thought a See also:security against See also:double-voting or voting with a non-See also:official card, and also against the voter carrying away his card) . In 1869, at See also:Manchester and See also:Stafford in England, test-ballots were taken on the Australian system as practised in Victoria—the voting-card containing the names of all the candidates, printed in different See also:colours (for the benefit of illiterate voters), and the voter being directed to See also:score out the names of those he did not support, and then to place the card (covered by an official envelope) in the box . It was found at Manchester that the voting was considerably more rapid, and therefore less expensive, than under the old system; that only 8o See also:cards out of 11,475 were rejected as informal; and that, the representatives of candidates being See also:present to check false statements of identity, and the public outside being debarred from receiving See also:information what voters had voted, the ballot rather decreased the See also:risk of See also:personation . At Manchester the cards were not numbered consecutively, as in Victoria, so that (assuming the officials to be See also:free from corruption) no See also:scrutiny could have detected by whom particular votes were given . At Stafford the returning-officer stamped each card before giving it to the voter, the See also:die of the See also:stamp having been finished only on the See also:morning of the election . By this means the possibility was excluded of what was known as " the Tasmanian See also:Dodge," by which a corrupt voter gave to the returning-officer, or placed in the box, a See also:blank non-official See also:ticket, and) carried out from the See also:booth his official card, which a corrupt See also:agent then marked for his candidate, and gave so=marked to corrupt voter No . 2 (before he entered the booth) on See also:condition that he also would bring out his official card, and so on ad libitum; the agent thus obtaining a security for his bribe, unless the corrupt voter See also:chose to disfranchise himself by making further marks on the card . At the See also:close of 1870 the ballot was employed in the election of members for the 'See also:London School See also:Board under the See also:Education Act of that year . In 1872 W . E . See also:Forster's Ballot Act introduced the ballot in all parliamentary and municipal elections, except parliamentary elections for See also:universities; and the See also:code of See also:procedure prescribed by the act was adopted by the Scottish Education Board in the first School Board election (1873) under the Education (Scotland) Act 1872 . The Ballot Act not only abolished public nominations of candidates, but dealt with the offence of personation and the expenses of elections . As practised in the See also:United See also:Kingdom, a white paper is used on which the names of the candidates are printed in alphabetical See also:order, the voter filling up with a X the blank on the right-hand opposite the name he votes for . The paper, before being given out, is marked by the presiding-officer on both sides with an official stamp, which is kept secret, and cannot be used for a second election within seven years . The paper is marked on the back with the same number as the counterfoil of the paper which remains with the officer . This counterfoil is also marked with the voter's number on the register, so that the vote may be identified on a scrutiny; and a See also:mark on the register shows thatthe voter has received a ballot-paper . The voter folds up the paper so as to conceal his mark, but to show the stamp to the officer, and deposits it in the box, which is locked and sealed, and so constructed that papers cannot be withdrawn without unlocking it . Papers inadvertently spoiled by the voters may be exchanged, the officer preserving separately the spoiled papers . If a voter is incapacitated from See also:blindness, or other See also:physical cause, or makes before the officer a See also:declaration of inability to read, or when the See also:poll is on a Saturday declares himself a See also:Jew, the officer causes the paper to be marked as the voter directs, and keeps a See also:record of the transaction . A voter who claims to vote after another has voted in respect of the same qualification, obtains a (See also:green) paper which is not placed in the box, but preserved apart as a " tendered " paper . He must, however, declare his identity and that he has not already voted . The presiding-officer at the close of the poll has to See also:account to the returning-officer for the papers entrusted to him, the number being made up by—(1) papers in the box, (2) spoiled papers, (3) unused papers and (4) tendered papers . During the voting (for which schoolrooms and other public rooms are available, and for which a See also:separate compartment must be provided for every 150 See also:electors entitled to vote at a station) agents of candidates are allowed to be present in the polling-station, but they, as well as the officials, are sworn to secrecy as regards who have voted, and for whom; and they are prohibited from interfering with the voter, inducing him to show his vote, or attempting to ascertain the number on the back of the paper . These agents are also present with the returning-officer when he See also:counts the papers and the votes, rejecting those papers—(r) which want the official mark on the back; (2) on which votes are given for more candidates than the voter is entitled to vote for; (3) on which any-thing except the number on the back is marked or written by which the voter can be identified; (4) which are unmarked, or so marked that it is uncertain for whom the vote is given . The counted and rejected papers, and also the " tendered " papers, counterfoils and marked register (which have not been opened), are, in parliamentary elections, transmitted by the returning officer to the clerk of the crown in See also:chancery in England, or the See also:sheriff-clerk in Scotland, who destroys them at the end of one year, unless otherwise directed by an order of the House of Commons, or of some court having See also:jurisdiction in election petitions . Such petitions either simply dispute the accuracy of the return on the ground of miscounting, or wrongous rejection or wrongous See also:admission of papers, in which case the court examines the counted and rejected papers; or make allegations of corruption, &c. on which it may be necessary to refer to the marked counterfoils and ascertain how bribed voters have voted . Since the elections of 1874 much discontent has been expressed, because See also:judges have rejected papers with trifling (perhaps accidental) marks other than the X upon them, and because elections have been lost through the failure of the officer to stamp the papers . For this purpose the use has been suggested of a perforating instead of an See also:embossing stamp, while a dark-ground paper with white voting-spaces would make misplaced votes impossible . The BallotAct introduced several new offences,such as forgingof papers or fraudulently defacing or destroying a paper or the official mark; supplying a paper without due authority; fraudulently putting into the box a non-official paper; fraudulently taking a paper out of the station without due authority; destroying, taking, opening or otherwise interfering with a box or packet of papers then in use for election purposes . These roffences and attempts to commit them are punishable in the case of See also:officers and clerks with imprisonment for two years, with or without hard labour . In other cases the term of imprisonment is six months . The ballot was See also:long criticized as leading to universal See also:hypocrisy and deception; and Sydney Smith spoke of "voters, in dominos, going to the poll in See also:sedan-chairs with closely-See also:drawn curtains." The observed effect of a secret ballot has been, however, gradually to exterminate undue influence . The alarm of " the See also:confessional " seems to be unfounded, as a See also:Catholic penitent is not See also:bound to confess his vote, and if he did co, it would be a See also:crime in the See also:confessor to divulge it . See also:Continental See also:Europe.—The ballot is largely employed in See also:European countries . 
In See also:France, where from 184o to 1845 the ballot, or scrutin, had been used for deliberative voting in the chamber of deputies, its use in elections to the See also:Corps Legislatif was carefully regulated at the beginning of the Second See also:Empire by the Organic See also:Decree of the and of February 1852 . Under this law the voting was superintended by a See also:bureau consisting of the See also:deputy returning-officer (called See also:president of the See also:section), four unpaid assessors selected from the See also:constituency and a secretary . Each voter presents a polling-card, with his designation, date of See also:birth and See also:signature (to secure identity), which he had previously got at the Mairie . This the president mutilates, and the vote is then recorded by a " bulletin," which is not official, but is generally printed with a candidate's name, and given to the voter by an agent outside, the only conditions being that the bulletin shall be " sur See also:papier See also:blanc, sans signes exterieurs, et prepare en dehors de 1'assemblee." The See also:total number of votes given (there being only one member in each electoral See also:district) is checked by reference to " la feuille d'appel et inscription See also:des votants," the law still supposing that each voter is publicly called on to vote . If the voter, when challenged, cannot sign his polling-card, he may See also:call a See also:witness to sign for him . The following classes of bulletins are rejected:—" illisibles, blancs, ne contenant pas une designation suffisante; sur lesquels See also:les votants se sont fait connaitre; contenant le nom d'une personne n'ayant pas prete le serment prescrit" (i.e. of a See also:person not nominated) . Only the votes pronounced See also:bad by the bureau in presence of representative scrutineers are preserved, in case these should be called for during the " Session pour verification des Pouvoirs." Practically the See also:French ballot did not afford secrecy, for you might observe what bulletin the voter took from the agent, and follow him up the See also:queue into the polling-place; but the determined voter might conceal his vote even from the undue influence of government by scratching out the printed See also:matter and writing his vote . This was always a See also:good vote and scrutiny of good votes was impossible . The ballot is still used in the elections to the See also:National Assembly, but in the Assembly itself only in See also:special cases, as e.g. in the election of a " rapporteur." Under the law of loth See also:August 1871 the conseils generaux (departmental See also:councils) are elected by ballot . In See also:Piedmont the ballot formed See also:part of the free constitutional government introduced by Charles See also:Albert in March 1848; it was extended to See also:Italy in 1861 . Voting for the See also:Italian chamber of deputies takes place under the law of loth See also:November 1859, and in public halls (not booths), to which admission is gained by showing a certificate of inscription, issued by the See also:mayor to each . qualified voter . A stamped See also:blue official paper, with a memorandum of the law printed on the back (bolletino spiegato), is then issued to the elector; on this he writes the name of a candidate (there being equal electoral colleges) or, in certain exceptional cases, gets a confidential friend to do so, and hands the paper folded-up to the president of the bureau, who puts it in the box (urna), and who afterwards presides at the public "squittinio dei suffragi." See also:Greece is the only European See also:country in which the ball-ballot is used . The voting takes place in the churches, each candidate has a box on which his name is inscribed, one See also:half (white) being also marked " yes," the other half (black) " no." The voter, his citizenship or right to vote in the eparchy being verified, receives one ball or leaden See also:bullet for each candidate from a wooden bowl, which a clerk carries from box to box . The voter stretches his See also:arm down a See also:funnel, and drops the ball into the " yes " or " no " See also:division . The vote is secret, but there is apparently no check on " yes " votes being given for all the candidates, and the ball or bullet is imitable . The earlier See also:history of the ballot in See also:Hungary is remarkable . Before 1848 secret voting was unknown there . The electoral law of that year See also:left the regulation of parliamentary elections to the See also:county and See also:town councils, very few of which adopted the ballot . The mode of voting was perhaps the most See also:primitive on record . Each candidate had a large box with his namesuperscribed and painted in a distinguishing colour . On entering the See also:room alone the voter received a See also:rod from 4 to 6 feet in length (to prevent concealment of non-official rods on the voter's person), which he placed in the box through a slit in the lid . By the electoral law of 1874 the ballot in parliamentary elections in Hungary was abolished, but was made obligatory in the elections of town and county councils, the voting being for several persons at once . In See also:Prussia, See also:Stein, by his Stadteordnung, or municipal See also:corporation act of 18o8, introduced the ballot in the election of the municipal assembly (Stadtverordnetenversammlung) . Under the See also:German constitution of 1867, and the new constitution of the 1st of See also:January 1871, the elections of the Reichstag were to be conducted by universal See also:suffrage under the ballot in conformity with the electoral law of the 31st of May 1869 . See also:America.—At the first elections in America voting was viva voce; but several of the colonies See also:early provided for the use of written or printed ballots . By 1775 ballots were used in the New England states, in See also:Pennsylvania, See also:Delaware, See also:North Carolina and South Carolina; they were introduced in New See also:Jersey in 1776, and in New See also:York in 1778, so that, at the time the constitution of the United States was adopted, viva voce voting prevailed at public elections only in See also:Maryland, See also:Virginia and See also:Georgia . Of the new states which later entered the See also:Union, only See also:Illinois, See also:Kentucky, See also:Missouri and See also:Arkansas did not have a ballot system when they became states . During the first half of the 19th century, Maryland, Georgia, Arkansas (1846) and Illinois (1848) adopted the ballot . In Missouri ballot-voting was introduced to some localities in 1845, but not until 1863 was it generally adopted in that state . Virginia did not provide for voting by ballot until 1869, and in Kentucky viva voce voting continued until 1819, but while the use of ballots was thus required in voting, and most of the states had laws prescribing the form of ballots and providing for the See also:count of the vote, there was no See also:provision making it the See also:duty of any one to See also:print and distribute the ballots at the polling-places on election See also:day . In the primitive town meetings ballots had been written by the voters, or, if printed, were furnished by the candidates . With the development of elections, the task of preparing and distributing ballots See also:fell to political committees for the various parties . The ballot-tickets were thus prepared for party-lists of candidates, and it was not easy for any one to vote a mixed ticket, while, as the voter received the ballot within a few feet of the polls, secrecy was almost impossible, and intimidation and bribery became both easy and frequent . Soon after the adoption of the Australian ballot in Great Britain, it was introduced in See also:Canada, but no serious agitation was begun for a similar system in the United States until 1885 . In 1887 bills for the Australian ballot were actively urged in the legislatures of New York and See also:Michigan, although neither became law . A See also:Wisconsin law of that year, regulating elections in cities of over 50,000 See also:population, incorporated' some features of the Australian system, but the first See also:complete law was enacted by See also:Massachusetts in 1888 . This Massachusetts See also:statute provided for the See also:printing and See also:distribution of ballots by the state to contain the names of all candidates arranged alphabetically for each office, the electors to vote by marking the name of each candidate for whom they wished to vote . At the presidential election of 1888 it was freely alleged that large sums of See also:money had been raised on an unprecedented See also:scale for the See also:purchase of 'votes, and this situation created a feeling of deep alarm which gave a powerful impetus to the See also:movement for ballot reform . In 1889 new ballot laws were enacted in nine states: two states bordering on Massachusetts, See also:Connecticut and Rhode See also:Island; four states in the See also:middle-See also:west, See also:Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and See also:Minnesota; two See also:southern states, See also:Tennessee and Missouri; and See also:Montana, in the far west . The Connecticut law, however, marked but little improvement over former conditions, since it provided only for official envelopes in which the unofficial party ballots should be voted . The Indiana law provided for a single or "blanket" ballot, but with the names of candidates arranged in party-See also:groups, and a method of voting for all of the candidates in a party-See also:group by a single mark . Michigan and Missouri also adopted the party-group system . The other states followed the Massachusetts law providing for a blanket ballot with the candidates arranged by offices . The new ballot system had its first See also:practical demonstration at the Massachusetts election of 1889, and its success led to its rapid adoption in many other states . In 1890 ballot laws were passed in seven states: See also:Vermont, See also:Mississippi, See also:Wyoming and See also:Washington provided for the Massachusetts plan, although Vermont afterwards adopted the system of party-groups, which Maryland used from the first . The New York and New Jersey laws of 1890, however, only provided for official b |