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

The ruling was unprecedented and marked a major victory for Lucas, who sued over the ballot question last year arguing that voters were misled at the ballot box. —Kacen Bayless, Kansas City Star, 28 May 2024

White city officials and landowners codified segregation through attempts to control not only the ballot box but also private and public spaces like grocery stores and curb markets. —Faron Levesque, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1677, in the meaning defined at sense 1