the.com/ballot

means A piece of paper, slip, or system by which someone casts a secret vote in an election or formal decision.

from From Italian 'ballotta,' meaning 'little ball' — a diminutive of 'balla,' a ball. The link is wonderfully literal: in Renaissance Venice, voters cast their choices by dropping small balls into boxes, secrecy guaranteed by a closed fist. The word for the marble outlasted the marble itself, so today we 'cast a ballot' that is, in fact, a slip of paper — still carrying the ghost of a tiny dropped sphere in its name.