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THE WONDER OF WORDS: BOOK 2
ONE-HUNDRED MORE WORDS AND PHRASES SHAPING HOW CHRISTIANS THINK AND LIVE
At election time, we enter the polling booth to choose a candidate, by using a pencil or pulling a lever to mark a ballot. The word ballot comes from the Italian word "ballotta," meaning little ball. In ancient Rome and Greece, voting was done by means of little balls which the voter deposited in a receptacle. If he favored the candidate, he cast a white ball; if he opposed the person, he dropped in a black ball. From that custom we get the verb "to blackball," meaning to exclude from membership in an organization.

