The Ballot

What is a Ballot?

The ballot as we know it today has been changed numerous times throughout the course of history. The word originally comes from the Italian ballotta, which refers to a voting system that utilized colored balls. 

In early America, elections were generally held with paper forms, or even a simple vocal count of "aye" or "nay". Later on, paper ballots were introduced, yet were still not much like the kind we are familiar with. Often, they were distributed by the political parties themselves, or were just ordinary pieces of paper that voters wrote down their choice on. Somewhere in the 1960s, the first punchcard ballot was introduced, and in the 21st century, the use of touchscreens became more commonplace. Of course, every generation has had its fair share of voting fraud, and one of the first places to investigate is the ballot.

Balloting Controversy

Forms of manipulation, ballot destruction, and fakery have been in place since the beginning of American politics. Each method (vocal vote, paper balloting, and touchscreens) has their own set of complications and areas of fault. The vocal count, for example, was very simple and left little room for debate over who had voted for who. Politicians took advantage of this by using intimidation tactics and discouraging the vote.

The paper ballot, long being the most common method of voting, has been surrounded by a great deal of controversy. In the19th century, political machine leaders such as Boss Tweed used corrupt schemes to ensure their vote. These included the use of people who would vote multiple times around the city and the creation of fake names and identities. Furthermore, Tweed hired thugs to intimidate voters.

One of the largest debates around paper ballots was the Supreme Court case Bush v Gore, which resulted from a close decision in Florida which narrowly favored Bush. However, there were multiple issues about some counties' voting results. Gore asked for a recount. More disputes came up over the legitimacy of the "hanging chad" when counting votes. This exposed the differences between counties that could have led to different political outcomes, necessitating a more uniform method of counting votes.

Various types of chad

Recently, the use of touchscreens, which entered the results into a computer, has become more widely adopted. In 2006, an issue occurred when it was found that around 18,000 voters in a Florida district did not make a selection when using a touchscreen voting system. It is evident that no one method of collecting votes is ideal, and there are many problems that still must be solved. However, it is clear that we have made progress in this area. Our country has come a long way from the simple voting systems of the past, and hopefully we will continue to innovate and work towards a better solution.

Sources:
http://content.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1855857,00.html
http://archive.fairvote.org/righttovote/pballot.pdf
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/00-949.ZPC.html