ballot box

noun

1

: a box for receiving ballots

2

: ballot sense 2a

Phrases

stuff the ballot box

chiefly US

: to attempt to control the outcome of an election by having multiple illegitimate votes cast in support of the desired candidate

They said the vote-rigging included stuffing ballot boxes, buying votes and absent names on the voter rolls.

—Sonia Verma

By a margin of just 277 votes (some say ballot boxes were stuffed), Brooklyn, the nation's fourth-largest city, had voted to give up its proud and independent history.

—James Sterngold

Examples of ballot box in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Voters have been forced to take matters into their own hands, mostly at the ballot box and usually against the advice of the Newsom. —Steven Greenhut, Orange County Register, 15 Nov. 2024

Authoritarian populists have won at the ballot box and then weaponized their power to eliminate checks and balances and decimate their opponents. —Larry Diamond, Foreign Affairs, 8 Nov. 2024

Many celebrities have used their voices to amplify political messages in recent months, ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump squaring off at the ballot box on Tuesday. —EW.com, 6 Nov. 2024

Trump’s triumph at the ballot box was a remarkable moment in a presidential contest unlike any other. —Michael Collins, USA TODAY, 6 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1677, in the meaning defined at sense 1