Thousands of years ago people in Ancient Greece voted by placing either a white or black stone into a container.

A white stone was a YES vote, and a black stone was a NO vote.

The Pilgrims voted by raising their hands or by using their voices to say aye or nay, which mean yes or no.

Sometimes we still vote like that today. Has your teacher ever asked you to vote on something by raising your hand or saying aye?

In Italy, they voted with colored balls called ballotta. That is where we get our word for ballot.

A ballot is a list of choices to vote for in an election.