On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 13:33:17 +0000, Ian Jackson
wrote:

Why can't you Mercans realise you only have ONE ballot for the
president. And it can't be 'cast', it can only be held.

Unfortunately, the interchangeability of 'ballot' and 'vote' has now
entered BBC English.


Hi Ian,

According to my OED, Ballot has existed in the sense we all use it
since 1549. I can't imagine which "Mericans" you could blame then.
The notion of not being cast is foreign given the word Ballot derives
from Ball, and if anything, for it to work as a secret vote (the
meaning of Ballot according to the OED) it had to be placed into a
Ballot Box (and having had stood next to one for these several weeks
makes me a Balloteer) about as remote to being held as any.

Others may appreciate that this all devolves to the idiom "Black
Ball." That is, the Ballot indicated if you voted For or Against and
you held it hidden in your hand and deposited it unseen by others into
the pool of other Ballots which were then reckoned after the
completion of the process. If the majority were black, the candidate
was defeated.

Anyway, back to my Ballotist activities. I've got more Ballots to
collect.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC