Ballot (from Fr. ballotte, 'a little ball') is a little ball used in the practice of secret voting, which is thence generally called 'voting by ballot,' whether it be a ball or a ticket that is used. Votes may be taken by ballot in various ways—e.g. the voter may deposit a ball in either of two boxes, so conjoined that no one shall be able to say into which he drops it; or he may be presented with two balls—a white and a black—and so drop one of them into a box that it shall be unknown which he used. Voting by ballot is now the general method at the elections in countries where constitutional government prevails, and it is usually done by means of papers or cards. Voting by ballot, however, is a very old institution, and was the common form in the historic times both of ancient Greece and Rome. At Athens the voting in the popular assemblies and courts of law was either by show of hands or by ballot. From the use of marked potsherds (Gr. ostrakon) in popular voting came the Greek ostracism, or secret vote of the people, by which they drove into exile those who became obnoxious to them. Tabellæ or tickets were chiefly used by the Romans. If the vote concerned a change in the law, the tickets were marked V. R., the initial letters of the words Uti Rogas, expressing consent to the proposer's proposition; and A. for Antiquo, 'I am for the old law.' If the vote concerned the election of candidates to a public office, then the tickets bore the names of the candidates. The system of secret voting in Rome was fixed by various laws, the first of which was the Lex Gabinia, in 139 B.C.; but the popular assemblies voted by ballot as well as by acclamation long before the passing of these laws.
The system of vote by ballot is much in use among moderns in private or social clubs, and in the election of officers and other acts of public or joint-stock companies. The propriety of employing it in private clubs has never been questioned, for to the harmony of these it is essential that the votes of a few should suffice to exclude an obnoxious person; and in view of the personal and invidious nature of the vote, it is equally essential to their harmony that the voting should be secret. A candidate for admission, who succeeds in the face of a few though not a sufficient number of voters, could not but regard those who voted against him as enemies. But if the voting be by ballot, all he can know, if the voters keep their own counsel, is that some persons were unfriendly. It is thus left open for him to associate on friendly terms with all the members—a condition of the success and continuance of such associations. But whether the system is suited to political and municipal voting has been a question of keen discussion.
We have said that the system prevailed in ancient Greece, and regarding its results—especi- ally in the exercise of the ostracism—there have been various opinions. While some have considered that the Athenians, for instance, under cover of secrecy often acted without a just sense of responsibility, there is the authority of Mr Grote, in his History of Greece, on the other side, to the effect, that they exercised the right most beneficially. But if we have in Mr Grote an advocate of the ballot, in Gibbon we have an opponent of it. In his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, that historian dates the decline of the republic from the introduction of secret voting, which, he says, destroyed public confidence—in effect, broke up the ancient relations of patron and client, and caused a general demoralisation of the people. To come to modern times, we find the ballot in use in the Venetian senate; and that in Britain it was first demanded, not for the purpose of elections, but of votes in parliament. After the restoration in 1660 it was used for purposes of ostracism in the Scottish parliament. In 1710 a proposal for secret voting was carried in the English House of Commons, but rejected by the Lords. From 1840 to 1845 the ballot was in use in the French Chamber of Deputies. But the idea of secret voting in deliberative and legislative assemblies responsible to the people is now universally abandoned as inconsistent with the fundamental principles of popular government, of which publicity and the free criticism rendered possible by publicity are the great safeguards.
Towards the end of the 18th century vote by ballot for elections to parliament was advocated by some of the Whigs; and it was one of the first things demanded by English reformers at the beginning of the 19th century, the followers of Bentham being specially earnest in advocating it. It stood in the original draft of the Reform Bill of 1832. Grote first proposed it in 1833, and renewed the motion every year till 1839. It was one of the six points of the Chartists. In 1851 the proposal of vote by ballot was carried in the Commons against the opposition of Lord J. Russell and the Liberal government of that time by a majority of 51. The report of a select committee of the House of Commons in 1869 greatly contributed to decide public opinion in favour of the ballot as a necessary safeguard against corruption, intimidation, disorder, and all sorts of undue influence at elections. The result was Mr Forster's Ballot Act of 1872, which introduced secret voting at all parliamentary and municipal elections except parliamentary elections for universities. It had already been adopted for school-board elections in 1870. With the introduction of the ballot at parliamentary elections, the public nomination at the hustings, which had been so often associated with rioting and violence, disappeared.
In the New England colonies the practice of secret voting was in vogue from the very first, and it has now been adopted throughout the United States. It is prevalent also in the self-governing English colonies in Canada and Australia, and in most, if not all the countries of Europe which have adopted parliamentary institutions—in France, Germany, Italy, &c. While it may with substantial justice be maintained that open voting is theoretically the best at elections of every kind, on the ground that the suffrage being a public trust, it should be openly and manfully exercised with the full sense of responsibility, secret voting is now generally regarded as practically the most satisfactory method. Though it is not a perfect safeguard against bribery and intimidation, it has proved to be very effective. Since its adoption, elections have proceeded with greater quietness, order, and with comparatively little corruption.