ballot

ballot

English

WOTD – 6 November 2016

An early ballot box in which balls were used to cast the ballots. This box, once used by the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants of the District of Columbia, a social club, is in the collection of the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., USA.

Etymology

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”)).

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bal‧lot
• Rhymes: -ælət

Noun

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.
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

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

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• absentee ballot
• Australian ballot
• ballot box
• bedsheet ballot
• blanket ballot
• butterfly ballot
• down-ballot
• e-ballot
• long ballot
• Massachusetts ballot
• paper ballot
• postal ballot
• secret ballot
• short ballot

 

Translations

paper used for vote-casting — See also translations at ballot paper

Albanian: please add this translation if you can Arabic: please add this translation if you can Armenian: քվեաթերթիկ (hy) (kʿveatʿertʿik) Basque: please add this translation if you can Belarusian: бюлетэ́нь (be) m (bjuljeténʹ) Bulgarian: бюлети́на (bg) f (bjuletína) Burmese: မဲ (my) (mai:) Catalan: papereta de vot f Chinese: Mandarin: 選票／选票 (zh) (xuǎnpiào) Dutch: stembiljet (nl) n Esperanto: baloto Faroese: valseðil m Finnish: äänestyslippu (fi), äänestyslipuke, vaalilippu (fi) French: bulletin de vote (fr) m, bulletin (fr) m Georgian: ბიულეტენი (biuleṭeni), საარჩევნო ბიულეტენი (saarčevno biuleṭeni) German: Stimmzettel (de) m Greek: ψηφοδέλτιο (el) n (psifodéltio) Hebrew: פתק הצבעה‎ m (peteq hatzba'a) Hindi: please add this translation if you can Hungarian: szavazócédula (hu), szavazólap (hu) Icelandic: kjörseðill m Italian: scheda elettorale f Japanese: 投票用紙 (とうひょうようし, tōhyō yōshi) Jingpho: me Khmer: សន្លឹកឆ្នោត (sɑɑnlɨkchnaot) Korean: 투표용지(投票用紙) (ko) (tupyoyongji) Latvian: please add this translation if you can Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can Maori: pepa pōti Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Norman: scrutîn m (Jersey) Norwegian: Bokmål: stemmeseddel m Plautdietsch: Stemm f Portuguese: cédula eleitoral f, boletim (pt) m Romanian: buletin de vot (ro) n Russian: бюллете́нь (ru) m (bjulleténʹ), избира́тельный бюллете́нь (ru) m (izbirátelʹnyj bjulleténʹ) Spanish: papeleta de voto f, balota (es) f Swedish: valsedel (sv) c, röstsedel (sv) c Tagalog: balota Thai: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: бюлете́нь (uk) m (bjuleténʹ), виборчий бюлете́нь m (vyborčyj bjuleténʹ) Vietnamese: lá phiếu, phiếu bầu cử

process of voting

Arabic: تَصْوِيت‎ m (taṣwīt) Azerbaijani: səsvermə Belarusian: галасава́нне n (halasavánnje) Bulgarian: гласува́не (bg) n (glasuváne) Chinese: Mandarin: 投票 (zh) (tóupiào) Czech: hlasování (cs) n Danish: afstemning (da) c Esperanto: baloto Finnish: äänestäminen (fi), äänestys (fi) French: votation (fr) f Georgian: ხმის მიცემა (xmis micema) German: Abstimmung (de) f Greek: ψηφοφορία (el) f (psifoforía) Hungarian: titkos szavazás Italian: votazione (it) f Japanese: 投票 (ja) (とうひょう, tōhyō) Korean: 투표(投票) (ko) (tupyo) Latin: suffrāgium n Macedonian: гласање n (glasanje) Maori: māpere Norwegian: Bokmål: avstemning m or f Polish: głosowanie (pl) n, balot (pl) m (secret vote with balls or paper), balotaż m (secret vote with balls or paper) Portuguese: votação (pt) f Russian: голосова́ние (ru) n (golosovánije), волеизъявле́ние (ru) n (voleizʺjavlénije), баллотиро́вка (ru) f (ballotiróvka) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: гла̀са̄ње n Roman: glàsānje (sh) n Slovak: hlasovanie n Slovene: glasovanje n Spanish: elecciones (es) f pl, votación (es) f Ukrainian: голосува́ння (uk) n (holosuvánnja)

list of candidates

Dutch: kandidatenlijst (nl) f Finnish: ehdokaslista (fi) Greek: ψηφοδέλτιο (el) n (psifodéltio) Maori: rārangi kaitono pōti Norwegian: valgliste c Portuguese: lista de candidatos f Spanish: candidatura (es) f

total of all votes cast in an election

Finnish: äänimäärä Norwegian: opptelling m

Verb

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

1. To vote or decide by ballot.

   to ballot for a candidate

2. To draw lots.

Translations

to vote by ballot

Polish: balotować impf

to draw lots

Bulgarian: тегля жребии (teglja žrebii) Finnish: arpoa (fi) Maori: māpere Russian: тяну́ть жре́бий (ru) (tjanútʹ žrébij)

See also

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

Further reading

• ballot on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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French

Etymology

balle +‎ -ot

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o

Noun

ballot m (plural ballots)

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

Derived terms

• C'est ballot

Further reading

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

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Northern Sami

Pronunciation

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

Verb

ballot

1. first-person plural imperative of ballat