ballot

ballot
    n 1: a document listing the alternatives that is used in voting
    2: a choice that is made by counting the number of people in
       favor of each alternative; "there were only 17 votes in favor
       of the motion"; "they allowed just one vote per person" [syn:
       {vote}, {ballot}, {voting}, {balloting}]
    v 1: vote by ballot; "The voters were balloting in this state"
    

Ballot \Bal"lot\ (b[a^]l"l[u^]t), n. [F. ballotte, fr. It.
   ballotta. See {Ball} round body.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. Originally, a ball used for secret voting. Hence: Any
      printed or written ticket used in voting.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The act of secret voting, whether by balls, written or
      printed ballots or tickets, or by use of a voting machine;
      the system of voting secretly.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]

            The insufficiency of the ballot.      --Dickens.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. The whole number of votes cast at an election, or in a
      given territory or electoral district.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. the official list of candidates competing in an election.
      There are no women on the ballot.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Ballot box},
      (a) a box for receiving ballots.
      (b) the act, process or system of voting secretly; same as
          {ballot}[2]. "The question will be resolved by the
          ballot box."
          [1913 Webster]
    

Ballot \Bal"lot\ (b[a^]l"l[u^]t), v. i. [imp. & p. p.
   {Balloted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Balloting}.] [F. ballotter to
   toss, to ballot, or It. ballottare. See {Ballot}, n.]
   To vote or decide by ballot; as, to ballot for a candidate.
   [1913 Webster]
    

Ballot \Bal"lot\, v. t.
   To vote for or in opposition to.
   [1913 Webster]

         None of the competitors arriving to a sufficient number
         of balls, they fell to ballot some others. --Sir H.
                                                  Wotton.
   [1913 Webster]
    

BALLOT, government. A diminutive ball, i. e. a little ball used in giving 
votes; the act itself of giving votes. A little ball or ticket used in 
voting privately, and, for that purpose, put, into a box, (commonly called a 
ballot-box,) or into some other contrivance. 
    

68 Moby Thesaurus words for "ballot":
      Australian ballot, Hare system, Indiana ballot,
      Massachusetts ballot, absentee ballot, aye, blanket ballot,
      canvass, canvassing, casting vote, counting heads,
      cumulative voting, deciding vote, division, enfranchisement,
      fagot vote, franchise, graveyard vote, hand vote, list system,
      long ballot, nay, no, nonpartisan ballot, nontransferable vote,
      office-block ballot, party emblem, party-column ballot, plebiscite,
      plebiscitum, plumper, plural vote, poll, polling,
      preferential voting, proportional representation, proxy,
      record vote, referendum, representation, right to vote,
      rising vote, sample ballot, say, secret ballot, short ballot,
      show of hands, single vote, slate, snap vote, split ticket,
      straight ticket, straw vote, suffrage, ticket, transferable vote,
      viva voce, voice, voice vote, vote, vote in, voting, voting right,
      write-in, write-in vote, yea, yeas and nays, yes