by Mark Ollig
(This column appears in the newspaper's printed edition on Nov. 5, 2012)
Tomorrow
is Election Day in the United States, and so your humble columnist reasoned
this week’s topic might be of interest.
Don’t
forget to cast your ballotta.
Ballotta
is the Italian word for the “little ball” they used in secret voting; today,
the word we use is ballot.
In
the 1540s, the people of Venice, Italy would register their vote (in secret) by
dropping a specifically marked or colored ball (ballotta) into a box or other
container.
In
contrast, some of the early voting practices in the United States used the
“non-secret ballot” method.
This
method was an openly recognized ballot vote; each citizen would vote for the
person of their choice in public.
A
citizen voted by using either a piece of paper, or by verbally affirming the
name of the candidate they were voting for.
However,
the non-secret ballot method was vulnerable to the intimidation, coercion, and
bribing of a citizen to cast their vote for a particular person.
Then,
a change took place. Starting in 1888, Massachusetts became to the first state
to begin using a new type of voting method which would keep one’s vote secret.
This
method was called the Australian ballot.
It
originated in 1856, in Victoria and South Australia – thus its name.
William
Boothby, a South Australian commissioner, is credited for creating the secret
balloting system, which had paper ballots pre-printed with the names of the
candidates up for election.
Citizens
voting would mark their preference in privacy, on the official paper ballots
which had been printed and distributed by the government.
A
special wooden voting booth was constructed with particular dimensions and was
private, except for an opening at the top.
The
wooden ballot box, where the paper ballots would be placed in, was examined
before the voting began.
The
top of the box had a slot to accept the paper ballot.
This
box was closed before the first ballot was inserted and was not to be opened
until the final count began.
A
resident then voted by marking a paper ballot while standing in the voting
booth.
Once
the citizen was confirmed to be able to vote, their paper ballot was placed
inside the wooden ballot box.
The
paper ballots inside the wooden ballot box were tabulated by hand.
The
Australian ballot method of voting using Boothby’s system spread to Europe, and
then eventually to the United States during the Presidential election held on
Nov. 6, 1888.
Benjamin
Harrison won the presidency over Grover Cleveland in 1888 by a majority of
electoral votes: 233 to 168.
Cleveland
won the popular vote by 100,456 votes.
In
1892, the first mechanical lever voting machine was used in Lockport, NY.
This
mechanical voting machine, called the Myers Automatic Booth, was invented by
Jacob H. Meyers, who obtained US Patent 415,549, Nov. 19, 1889.
Myers’
voting machine sped up vote counting, and considerably reduced the chance of
over voting, as the votes were counted by machine instead of by hand.
His
voting machine was created to “protect mechanically the voter from rascaldom,
and make the process of casting the ballot perfectly plain, simple, and
secret,” according to a quote attributed to Myers.
It
was said, by 1930, various mechanical lever voting machines had been installed
in just about every city in the United States.
Mechanical
lever machines used in the US for voting stopped being made in 1982, and by
2004, they represented about 14 percent of voting.
Reading
ballots using an optical mark-sense scanning system was first used in 1962, in
Kern City, CA.
This
ballot reading method was designed and built by the Norden Division of United
Aircraft and the City of Los Angeles. This system was also used in Oregon,
Ohio, and North Carolina.
In
the 1964 presidential election, some voters used a keypunch device to create
holes in paper punchcards next to the name of the candidate of their choice.
Watch out for those hanging chads!
Nov.
16, 1972, five inventors filed a patent for an electronic voting machine called
The Video Voter. They were granted US Patent 3,793,505, Feb. 19, 1974.
According
to the patent’s abstract, this device was described as “An electronic voting
machine including a video screen.”
The
Video Voter was used in Illinois in 1975, and is considered the first
direct-recording, electronic voting machine used in an election.
If
we go back to 508 BC, we will discover ancient Greece had “negative” elections.
Voters
(the male land owners), would vote for the leader they sought not to be elected
– but to be exiled or shunned for the next 10 years.
These
ballots were not cast on paper, or even verbally made.
Instead,
the voters would write a name on pieces from a broken pot, or “ostraka,” which
is a Greek word, from where we get the word “ostracize.”
If
a leader’s name received more than 6,000 votes, they were ostracized.
The
word “election” originated in the 13th century from the Anglo-French language
and means “choice.” The French obtained it from the Latin word “eligere,”
meaning to “pick out or choose.”
If
you are reading this column before the Tuesday evening voting deadline; please
exercise your right to vote.
