ballot box

noun

1

: a box for receiving ballots

2

: ballot sense 2a

In a republic, reform had to come about through the ballot box rather than by force.

—Mary Beth Norton et al.

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

Voters in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District will head to the ballot box in one week to vote in the race between Democratic state legislator Aftyn Behn and Republican Matt Van Epps in one week with polls showing a closer-than-expected race in the historically conservative district. —Andrew Stanton, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Nov. 2025

In an age when incumbents keep getting hammered at the ballot box, many in Europe are looking to the asylum policies of Frederiksen’s Social Democrats – which won elections in 2019, 2022, and, polls show, are on course to win again in 2026 – as a model to imitate. —Christian Edwards, CNN Money, 19 Nov. 2025

But democracies come with a device called the ballot box which has a way of dealing with such dilemmas. —David McWilliams, Fortune, 16 Nov. 2025

The proposal also came days after Democrats saw massive wins at the ballot box, opening up a fissure for Republicans and encouraging the minority party to dig in. —Al Weaver, The Hill, 7 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1677, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for ballot box

• aftershocks
• chatterbox
• equinox
• goldilocks
• hollyhocks
• interlocks
• orthodox
• paradox
• tomahawks
• balks
• blocks
• blocs