Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2008 October 23

= October 23 =

Ballots and votes
I keep hearing "Cast their ballot" instead of "Cast their vote". Is this correct? The way I see it, you can cast a vote but, unless you're throwing the piece of paper, you can't cast a ballot. Dismas |(talk) 05:51, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
 * I think it's okay. In a lot of places, you're literally casting a paper ballot into a metal ballot box, and even in the places where it's done differently, you're still metaphorically casting your ballot. —Angr 07:15, 23 October 2008 (UTC)


 * There may be a confusion between the different meanings of ballot. In Angr's example, it's the physical piece of paper the voter puts into the ballot box.  If you're talking about the physical action of walking over to the box and inserting the piece of paper into the slot, that's casting a ballot. But if you're talking about the general concept of having your say, then it would be casting a vote.  In other words, you can cast/have a vote by casting a ballot.  Ballot also refers to the general method of choosing a representative or deciding a question, e.g. a secret ballot, which does not necessarily involve any paper ballots.  If it were entirely electronic, you'd cast/have a vote by pressing a button or pulling a lever, not by casting a ballot.  --  JackofOz (talk) 07:30, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Hmm. Thanks both of you.  I hadn't thought of the "casting it into the ballot box" form of casting.  Dismas |(talk) 13:19, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
 * And in most elections, you're dealing with more than one office or more than one issue, so you have many votes (e.g., your vote for president, your vote for senator, your vote for city councilman, your vote in the sewer-bond referendum), all of which you cast by means of the collection of choices on the ballot. --- OtherDave (talk) 17:02, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Except that, in many countries, there are separate ballot papers for each such election. jnestorius(talk) 17:29, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

The Casting vote article might be of interest to people in this discussion. (I'm not suggesting it answers the OP's question, just that it seems related. ) 16:26, 24 October 2008 (UTC)Wanderer57 (talk)