short ballot

American  

noun

1. a ballot containing only candidates for the most important legislative and executive posts, leaving judicial and lesser administrative posts to be filled by appointment.

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Etymology

Origin of short ballot

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

short ballot

The platform endorsed such political reforms as woman suffrage, direct primaries, the initiative, referendum, and recall, popular election of United States Senators, and the short ballot.

From History of the United States by Charles A. (Charles Austin) Beard

The "short ballot" in itself is a slight affair, but the insight behind it seems to me capable of revolutionary development.

From A Preface to Politics by Walter Lippmann

This incident of the "short ballot" illustrates the cleavage between invention and routine.

From A Preface to Politics by Walter Lippmann

They sometimes combine the short ballot with the initiative, referendum and recall though they are utterly at variance.

From Ethics in Service by William H. Taft

The initiative, the referendum, the recall, the short ballot, direct primaries, and proportionate representation are all designed to transfer power from rings and bosses to the people themselves.

From Social Justice Without Socialism by John Bates Clark