The word ballot comes from Italian ballotta, meaning a "small ball used in voting" or a "secret vote taken by … See more

In ancient Greece, citizens used pieces of broken pottery to scratch in the name of the target of the ostracism.
The first use of paper ballots to conduct an election appears to have been in Rome in 139 BC, foll… See more

Depending on the type of voting system used in the election, different ballots may be used. Ranked ballots allow voters to rank candidates in order of preference, while ballots for first-past-the-post systems only allow voter… See more

Ballot design can aid or inhibit clarity in an election. Poor designs lead to confusion and potentially chaos if large numbers of voters spoil or mismark a ballot. The "butterfly ballot" used in the Palm Beach County, Flo… See more

In a jurisdiction using an all-paper system, voters choose by marking a ballot or, as in the case of Israel and France, picking one premarked ballot among many. In most jurisdictions the ballots are preprinted with names of c… See more

• Ballot box
• Chad (paper)
• Direct democracy
• Electoral fraud
• List of democracy and elections-related topics… See more