Why Do We Call Voting Balloting?
The term covers all forms of secret voting, as in early times such votes were determined by balls of different colors deposited in the same box, or balls of one color placed in various boxes. The Greeks used shells (ostrakon), whence we derive the term ostracism. In 139 B.C. the Romans voted by tickets. The ballot was first used in America in 1629, when the Salem Church thus chose a pastor. It was employed in the Netherlands in the same year, but was not established in England until 1872, although in Scotland it was used in cases of ostracism in the 17th century. In 1634 the governor of Massachusetts was elected by ballot, and the constitutions of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and North Carolina adopted in 1776, made this method of voting obligatory. The ballot progressed slowly in the Southern States, Kentucky retaining the viva voce method until a comparatively recent date. In certain states, the constitutions stipulate that the legislature shall vote viva voce, i. e., cast their votes orally. Since 1875 all congressmen have been elected by ballot. In 1888 the Australian ballot system, which requires the names of all the candidates for the various offices to be placed on one large sheet of paper, commonly known as a “blanket” ticket, was adopted in Louisville, Ky., and some sections of Massachusetts. It is now in very general use in this country. The voter, in the privacy of an individual booth, indicates his preference by making a mark opposite a party emblem or a candidate’s name. This system originated in 1851 with Francis S. Dutton, of South Australia, and Henry George, in a pamphlet, “English Elections,” published in 1882, was the first to advocate it in the United States. The first bill enacting it into a law here was introduced in the Michigan legislature in 1887, but it did not pass until 1889.