English

Verb

to stuff the ballot box ‎(third-person singular simple present stuffs the ballot box, present participle stuffing the ballot box, simple past and past participle stuffed the ballot box)

1. (idiomatic, politics) To commit fraud in an election by depositing extra or otherwise illegitimate ballots into the container holding voters' ballots, in an attempt to predetermine the outcome.
   • 1888 May 24, "Electing the Bishops," Baltimore American, p. 4 (retrieved 5 April 2013):

     Two fruitless ballots were taken, when the chairman of the board of tellers, stepping to the platform, said: "I find that attempts have been made to stuff the ballot-box."

   • 1906 Sept. 28, "Decent Democracy Downs Dorneyism," The News-Democrat (Rhode Island, USA), p. 3 (retrieved 5 April 2013):

     Their simplest and most effective scheme is to create a disturbance during which they can stuff the ballot box as they tried to last night.

   • 1976 Nov. 2, "Town Recalls ‘Decisive’ Vote," Daytona Beach Morning Journal, p. 3B (retrieved 5 April 2013):

     Republicans were said to have stuffed the ballot box with illegal votes, and the Democrats were accused of a lot of things too.

   • 2002 Feb. 27, Steven Greenhouse, "Trustee Ends His Oversight Of District 37," New York Times (retrieved 5 April 2013):

     Several council officials were convicted of stuffing the ballot box in 1996 to guarantee approval of a widely disliked contract.

References

• stuff the ballot box at OneLook Dictionary Search