Ballot box

A ballot box is a temporarily sealed container, usually a square box though sometimes a tamper resistant bag, with a narrow slot in the top sufficient to accept a ballot paper in an election but which prevents anyone from accessing the votes cast until the close of the voting period.

In the United States, ballot boxes are usually sealed after the end of polling, and transported to vote-counting centers.

[3] In ancient India in the 10th century Cholla era, in Tamil Nadu, palm leaves and pots were used to elect representatives to village administrations through the Kudavolai system.

[4] In ancient Greece, voting was done by dropping small balls or tokens into ballot boxes to select preferred candidates.

[3] As of 2022, citizens of Gambia voted by dropping marbles in colored drums, marked with the photo and logo of selected candidates.

In a ministerial by-election following his appointment as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Hugh Childers was re-elected as MP for Pontefract.

[11] In the 2010s, jurisdictions in the western United States, where voting by mail is commonplace, adopted secure ballot drop boxes capable of withstanding a range of risks, such as theft, vehicle collisions, arson, and inclement weather.

[17] In the event that a drop box's contents are damaged, authorities can identify affected voters by serial numbers and reissue ballots to them.