BLACKBALL, a token used for voting by ballot against the election of a candidate for membership of a club or other association. White and black balls were used to represent votes for and against a candidate for such election. The rules of most clubs provide that a stated proportion of "blackballs" shall ex clude candidates proposed for election, and the candidates so excluded are said to have been "blackballed" ; but the ballot (q.v.) is now usually conducted either by voting papers or by balls cast into different compartments of a ballot-box.