Ballot box

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Transparent ballot boxes used in Ukraine Viborchi urni v Ukrayini.jpg
Transparent ballot boxes used in Ukraine

A ballot box is a temporarily sealed container, usually a square box though sometimes a tamper resistant bag, with a narrow slot in the top sufficient to accept a ballot paper in an election but which prevents anyone from accessing the votes cast until the close of the voting period. A ballot drop box allows voters who have received a ballot by mail to submit it for counting in a self-service fashion. In the United States, ballot boxes are usually sealed after the end of polling, and transported to vote-counting centers. [1]

Contents

History

In the Roman Republic, each voter initially gave his vote orally to an official who made a note of it on an official tablet, but later in the Republic,[ when? ] the secret ballot was introduced, and the voter recorded his vote with a stylus on a wax-covered boxwood tablet, then dropped the completed ballot in the sitella or urna (voting urn), sometimes also called cista . [2] Paper ballots were used in Rome to some extent as early as 139 BCE. [3]

In ancient India in the 10th century Cholla era, in Tamil Nadu, palm leaves and pots were used to elect representatives to village administrations through the Kudavolai system. [4] [5] The candidates' names were written on palm leaves, [4] and these were placed inside a pot. [5] Winners were chosen through the drawing of random ballots. [4] While this system may have been used before the 10th century, there is no direct historical evidence as of 2024. [4]

In ancient Greece, voting was done by dropping small balls or tokens into ballot boxes to select preferred candidates. [3] This method was also used in modern historical secret societies, which used white balls to vote someone into the organization, and black balls to keep them out, the origin of the word "blackball". [3] As of 2022, citizens of Gambia voted by dropping marbles in colored drums, marked with the photo and logo of selected candidates. [3] This system was introduced in 1965 to address illiteracy in voting. [6]

The first British secret ballot using ballot papers and a ballot box was held in Pontefract on 15 August 1872, under the terms of the recently enacted Ballot Act 1872. In a ministerial by-election following his appointment as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Hugh Childers was re-elected as MP for Pontefract. The original ballot box, sealed in wax with a liquorice stamp, is held at Pontefract Museum. [7] [8]

The first paper ballots and ballot boxes in the United States began appearing in the early 19th century, replacing previous voice voting practices. [9] However, these were not popularized until the 1850s, upon the use of the Australian Secret Ballot, a paper with each candidate's name pre-marked. [3] This system was used in the United States until reforms were passed in the 1880s. [10] Voting was mostly by Australian Secret Ballot until automatic mechanical voting machines, operated with levers, became ubiquitous in the 20th century (1910-1980). [3] [9] Punch card voting and optical scanning machines (similar to ScanTron), both of which require paper ballots and therefore ballot boxes, came to market around the 1960s. [9] Currently, the most popular way to vote in the United States is through optical scanning machines. [9]

In the United States, ballot drop boxes have been in use since about 2000. [11] Ballot drop boxes became more popular during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. [12]

Operation

While ballot boxes, other than drop boxes, are usually located in polling stations, mobile ballot boxes also exist. These are taken to people's homes in some countries so that they do not have to travel to the polling station. [13] Mobile ballot boxes are very popular in Eastern Europe, in which 90% of countries have provisions for their use, but are very limited in use in Western Europe. [14] They are also only used in a small fraction of countries in Africa and the Americas. [14]

When very large ballot papers are used, there may be a feeder mechanism to assist in the deposit of the paper into the box.[ citation needed ]

Security

Drop boxes allow voters to avoid having to use the mail service, and are generally more secure than mail boxes. [11] In the 2010s, jurisdictions in the western United States, where voting by mail is commonplace, adopted secure ballot drop boxes capable of withstanding a range of risks, such as theft, vehicle collisions, arson, and inclement weather. One vendor manufactures a ballot box made of 1⁄4-inch-thick (6.4 mm) steel, weighing from 600 to 1,000 pounds (270 to 450 kg). [15] Fire suppression systems may rely on fuse-triggered chemical agents [15] [16] or airtight designs that smother fires. Some jurisdictions require ballot drop boxes to contain such systems. [17] In the event that a drop box's contents are damaged, authorities can identify affected voters by serial numbers and reissue ballots to them. [18]

Polling stations may use transparent ballot boxes in order for people to be able to witness that the box is empty prior to the start of the election, and not stuffed with fraudulent votes. [19] This style of ballot boxes (specifically, glass ballot boxes) had become a staple in the United States by 1860, in the context of scandals around the use of false bottoms on election boxes. [19] [20] It fell out of use in the United States around the turn of the century, in favor of new voting machines users operated by turning a crank. [19] They are still in use occasionally in other countries, including France. [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in voting. It was originally a small ball used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16th century.

A voting machine is a machine used to record votes in an election without paper. The first voting machines were mechanical but it is increasingly more common to use electronic voting machines. Traditionally, a voting machine has been defined by its mechanism, and whether the system tallies votes at each voting location, or centrally. Voting machines should not be confused with tabulating machines, which count votes done by paper ballot.

Electronic voting is voting that uses electronic means to either aid or take care of casting and counting ballots including voting time.

Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud, or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of rival candidates, or both. It differs from but often goes hand-in-hand with voter suppression. What exactly constitutes electoral fraud varies from country to country, though the goal is often election subversion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secret ballot</span> Anonymous voting method

The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote buying. This system is one means of achieving the goal of political privacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackballing</span> Rejection via secret ballot

Blackballing is a rejection in a traditional form of secret ballot, where a white ball or ballot constitutes a vote in support and a black ball signifies opposition. The system is typically used where an organization's rules provide that one or two objections, rather than an at-least-50% share of votes, are sufficient to defeat a proposition. Since the seventeenth century, these rules have commonly applied to elections to membership of many gentlemen's clubs and similar institutions such as Masonic lodges and fraternities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polling station</span> Place where voters cast their ballots in elections

A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English and British English, although a polling place is the building and polling station is the specific room where voters cast their votes. A polling place can contain one or more polling stations. In Australian English, "polling place" is used. Americans also use the term voting precinct in some states.

Vote counting is the process of counting votes in an election. It can be done manually or by machines. In the United States, the compilation of election returns and validation of the outcome that forms the basis of the official results is called canvassing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in the United States</span>

In the politics of the United States, elections are held for government officials at the federal, state, and local levels. At the federal level, the nation's head of state, the president, is elected indirectly by the people of each state, through an Electoral College. Today, these electors almost always vote with the popular vote of their state. All members of the federal legislature, the Congress, are directly elected by the people of each state. There are many elected offices at state level, each state having at least an elective governor and legislature. There are also elected offices at the local level, in counties, cities, towns, townships, boroughs, and villages; as well as for special districts and school districts which may transcend county and municipal boundaries.

An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Methods include voting at a different location, postal voting, proxy voting and online voting. Increasing the ease of access to absentee ballots is seen by many as one way to improve voter turnout through convenience voting, though some countries require that a valid reason, such as infirmity or travel, be given before a voter can participate in an absentee ballot. Early voting overlaps with absentee voting. Early voting includes votes cast before the official election day(s), by mail, online or in-person at voting centers which are open for the purpose. Some places call early in-person voting a form of "absentee" voting, since voters are absent from the polling place on election day.

Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) or verified paper record (VPR) is a method of providing feedback to voters who use an electronic voting system. A VVPAT allows voters to verify that their vote was cast correctly, to detect possible election fraud or malfunction, and to provide a means to audit the stored electronic results. It contains the name and party affiliation of candidates for whom the vote has been cast. While VVPAT has gained in use in the United States compared with ballotless voting systems without it, hand-marked ballots are used by a greater proportion of jurisdictions.

During the 2004 United States elections, there was controversy around various aspects of the voting process, including whether voting had been made accessible to all those entitled to vote, whether ineligible voters were registered, whether voters were registered multiple times, and whether the votes cast had been correctly counted.

Early voting, also called advance polling or pre-poll voting, is a convenience voting process by which voters in a public election can vote before a scheduled election day. Early voting can take place remotely, such as via postal voting, or in person, usually in designated early voting polling stations. The availability and time periods for early voting vary among jurisdictions and types of election. The goals of early voting are usually to increase voter participation, relieve congestion at polling stations on election day, and avoid possible discrimination against people with work and travel schedules that may effectively prohibit them from getting to the polls during the hours provided in a single election day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Postal voting</span> Voting, election, ballot papers, distributed to electors or returned by post, mail

Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system.

A DRE voting machine, or direct-recording electronic voting machine, records votes by means of a ballot display provided with mechanical or electro-optical components that can be activated by the voter. These are typically buttons or a touchscreen; and they process data using a computer program to record voting data and ballot images in memory components. After the election, it produces a tabulation of the voting data stored in a removable memory component and as printed copy. The system may also provide a means for transmitting individual ballots or vote totals to a central location for consolidating and reporting results from precincts at the central location. The device started to be massively used in 1996 in Brazil where 100% of the elections voting system is carried out using machines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in Kazakhstan</span>

Elections in Kazakhstan are held on a national level to elect a President and the Parliament, which is divided into two bodies, the Majilis and the Senate. Local elections for maslihats are held every five years.

An optical scan voting system is an electronic voting system and uses an optical scanner to read marked paper ballots and tally the results.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Election audit</span>

An election audit is any review conducted after polls close for the purpose of determining whether the votes were counted accurately or whether proper procedures were followed, or both.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Postal voting in the United States</span> Overview of topic

Postal voting in the United States, also referred to as mail-in voting or vote by mail, is a form of absentee ballot in the United States. A ballot is mailed to the home of a registered voter, who fills it out and returns it by postal mail or drops it off in-person at a secure drop box or voting center. Postal voting reduces staff requirements at polling centers during an election. All-mail elections can save money, while a mix of voting options can cost more. In some states, ballots may be sent by the Postal Service without prepayment of postage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronic voting in the United States</span> Facet of American elections

Electronic voting in the United States involves several types of machines: touchscreens for voters to mark choices, scanners to read paper ballots, scanners to verify signatures on envelopes of absentee ballots, and web servers to display tallies to the public. Aside from voting, there are also computer systems to maintain voter registrations and display these electoral rolls to polling place staff.

References

  1. ↑ "How are votes counted?". USAFacts. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  2. ↑ The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (eds. Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, Esther Eidinow: Oxford University Press, 2014), p. 267.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "History of Voting Machines". Brittannica ProCon.org. 15 December 2022. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  4. 1 2 3 4 A, Vignesh (2024-04-14). "Kudavolai system of Cholas: Myth of 'ancient democracy' where nobody voted". The South First. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  5. 1 2 "Democracy's ancient roots: Tamil Nadu's tableau showcases historical Kudavolai electoral system". The Print. 2024-01-26. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  6. ↑ "Gambians vote with their marbles". BBC News. 22 December 2006. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  7. ↑ Pontefract's secret ballot box, 1872 Archived 2019-12-16 at the Wayback Machine .
  8. ↑ "Wakefield Metropolitan District Council website". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "How Americans Have Voted Through History: From Voices to Screens". HISTORY. 2023-10-31. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  10. ↑ Cheng, Alicia Yin (2020-02-29). "The Evolution of Election Day". Slate. ISSN   1091-2339 . Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  11. 1 2 Sherman, Amy. "Ballot drop boxes, long used without issue, draw Trump's ire". PolitiFact. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  12. ↑ Sherman, Amy. "Why ballot drop boxes became a GOP target". PolitiFact. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  13. ↑ "Global mobile voting data". International IDEA. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  14. 1 2 "Special Voting Arrangements". International IDEA. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  15. 1 2 Santos, Melissa (October 17, 2019). "These ballot boxes keep your vote safe from fire, rain and rampaging SUVs". KCTS-TV . Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  16. ↑ Harding, Hayley (October 22, 2020). "A California ballot box was set on fire. Could that happen in the Boise area too?". Idaho Statesman . Boise, Idaho. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  17. ↑ Fischer, Howard (April 26, 2024). "Judge rejects attempt to ban use of ballot drop boxes". Yuma, Arizona: KAWC-FM . Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  18. ↑ Foden-Vencil, Kristian (October 28, 2024). "Ballot boxes still safe for voting despite arson attacks in Portland and Vancouver". Portland, Oregon: Oregon Public Broadcasting . Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Magazine, Smithsonian; Nalewicki, Jennifer. "A Glass Ballot Box Was the Answer to Voter Fraud in the 19th Century". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  20. ↑ Foutch, Ellery. "The Glass Ballot Box and Political Transparency". Commonplace. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
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