1. A sheet of paper or a card used to cast or register a vote, especially a secret one.
2. The act, process, or method of voting, especially in secret.
3. A list of candidates running for office; a ticket.
4. The total of all votes cast in an election.
5. The right to vote; franchise.
6. A small ball once used to register a secret vote.

1. To cast a ballot; vote.
2. To draw lots.

[Italian ballotta, a small ball used to register a vote, diminutive of dialectal balla, ball, of Germanic origin.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.