VOTE, VOTERS, VOTING. As defined by legal authorities the word Vote, as commonly used, has three meanings: (I) A ballot ; (2) °the expression of wish, or choice, or prefer ence, to the exclusion of the means by which, or method through which, that result was ac complished; the suffrage, voice, or opinion of a person in some matter which is commonly to be. determined by a majority of voices or opinions of persons who are empowered to give them; the formal expression of a will, preference, wish or choice of the voter for or against any measure, any law, or the election ot any person to office, or in regard to any measure proposed, in which the person voting has an interest in common with others, either in electing a person to fill a certain situation or office; or in passing laws, rules and regula tions; (3) the expression of choice by or through a ballot, or by outcry, or any other means by which the choice of the voter may be lawfully made, lcnown or communicated to others in the given instance; the wish of an individual in regard to any question, measure or choice, expressed by word of mouth, by ballot or otherwise; that by which the will, preference or opinion of a person is ex pressed.° ((Cyclopedia of Law and Procedure,' Vol. XL, pp. 223-224, New York 1912).
Considered by itself, courts have ruled that the ballot is °nothing but a written note or communication from an elector addressed to the government, expressing the choice of the elector, but which has not as yet been de livered)); and again, as regards the election of public officials, the ballot has alv.'ays meant °a paper so prepared by printing or writing thereon as to show the voter's choice, and (vote by ballot) [has always meant] the deposit of such paper in a box in such a way as to conceal the voter's choice if he so desires.° Hence as the terms "vote° and "ballot° are sometimes con fused, the courts have always distinguished be tween them! regarding the ballot, under our form of voung, as the instrument by which the voter expresses his choice between two candi dates or two propositions, whereas the vote is his choice or election between the two as ex pressed by his ballot. Illegal ballots do not
constitute votes and are not counted in de termining the result. See BALLOT.
Mode of Expression.—Since the vote merely expresses the will of the voter, the choice may be made either viva voce, by the use of the ballot, by a show of hands, by a division of the house or meeting, etc. The machinery or means through which the choice is expressed is termed an election. From the earliest times the term "voting by ballot° has been used to distinguish open, viva voce or public voting, and secret voting. Most of the States require that all votes shall be by ballot and courts have decided that "voting by ballot signifies a mode of designating an elector's choice of a person for an office by the deposit of a ticket, bearing the name of such person, in a receptacle pro vided for the purpose, in such a way as to secure to the elector the privilege of complete and inviolable secrecy in regard to the person voted for.° If secrecy in voting be required, then the only method is by ballot, and a ballot that does not secure secrecy of the vote is not a ballot within the meaning_ of the law. A Virginia court has ruled: °The vote by ballot ex vi termini implies a secret ballot. The secrecy of the ballot is a right which inheres ;ri the voter and of which he cannot against his will be law-fully deprived. It must be, how ever, in some degree subordinate to the right to vote by ballot, of which it is but a part; and the main object, which is the right to vote, must not be defeated by a too rigid observance of the incidental right, which is that of se crecy.° See ELEcTioNs; PRIMARY, Draecr;