Ballot
For the French automobile manufacturer, see Ballot (automobile)For the town in France, see Ballots, Mayenne.A
ballot is a device (originally a small ball - see
blackball) used to record choices made by
voters. Each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared. In the simplest elections, a ballot may be a simple scrap of paper on which each voter writes in the name of a candidate, but
governmental elections use either pre-printed or electronic ballots, in a wide variety of designs. The voter casts their ballot in a
box at a
Polling Station.
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This German ballot has the constituency vote on the left and the party vote on the right. |
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, while ballots for
first-past-the-post systems only allow voters to select one candidate. In
party-list systems, lists may be
open or
closed.
The United States has a unique politics of the
long and short ballot. Before the
Civil War, it was widely believed that democracy was enhanced by multiplying the number of elective offices to include such comparatively minor posts as the state-level
secretary of state,
county surveyor,
register of deeds,
county coroner, and
city clerk. A larger number of elected offices necessarily required longer ballots, and at times the long ballot undoubtedly resulted in confusion and
blind voting, though the seriousness of either problem can be disputed. A new generation of reformers attacked the long ballot during the so-called
Progressive Era (circa 1893-1917). In the United States today, the term
ballot reform sometimes refers to efforts to reduce the number of elected offices.
Ballot design can aid or inhibit clarity in an election. A poor design leads to confusion and potentially chaos if large numbers of voters spoil or mismark a ballot.
The so-called
butterfly ballot used in
Florida in the
U.S. presidential election, 2000 led to widespread allegations of mismarked ballots.
Some political scientists prefer a more explicit statement of the voter's actual tolerances and preferences, and believe that failure to reflect these in ballot design and voting system alternatives actually causes many problems and leads for calls for
electoral reform. For instance, a non-binding
referendum or
poll, carried out on a ballot, carries much more weight than one carried out with only a public sampling in a less politically committed event than an election. For example, one might count the number of ballots whereon the voter had crossed out the name of the
political party that nominated the candidate, even if (maybe only if) that voter had voted for him or her. This would indicate support for candidates but would be able to send signals to them that the "party line" was not why that voter voted for them, but rather, s/he expected them to act independently.
Such marking and counting could be carried out on an ordinary ballot with no provision for it, however, there would be risk of counting it as "spoiled" if the marks were unclear, and if ballot design had not allowed for it initially.
|
Perspective view of the famous 2000 Florida 'butterfly ballot'. |
There are many controversies around
electronic voting and
voting machine trustworthiness due to many incidents of related
electoral fraud.
*
List of democracy and elections-related topics *
Chad (paper)*
Democracy*
Direct democracy*
E-democracy*
Vote counting systems
