Meaning

noun a document listing the alternatives that is used in voting

noun a choice that is made by counting the number of people in favor of each alternative

verb vote by ballot

originBorrowed from Italian balota (obsolete), ballotta (“small ball, especially one used to register a vote”), from balla (“bale, bundle”) + -otta (suffix forming diminutive nouns); or from Middle French balote (obsolete), ballotte (“small ball used to register a vote”) (also compare Middle French balotiage, French ballottage (“second ballot, runoff”)); both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *ballu…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0