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butterfly ballot

British  

noun

  1. a ballot paper in the form of two leaves extending from a central spine

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of butterfly ballot

C20: from its resemblance to a butterfly's wings

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The butterfly ballot, which ironically is sort of the main thing everyone remembers about the 2000 recount.

From Slate • Nov. 5, 2020

Even Buchanan acknowledged, both then and subsequently, that Gore would have been president but for the butterfly ballot.

From Salon • Dec. 19, 2015

Until the palm beach county butterfly ballot had its 15 minutes of fame, few believed that bad design could determine the fate of the world.

From Time Magazine Archive

Bad Forms Until the Palm Beach County butterfly ballot had its 15 minutes of fame, few believed that bad design could determine the fate of the world.

From Time Magazine Archive

Chads, the butterfly ballot and optically scanned paper ballots are dead.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.