polling: chiefly British

[belongedto]

Good morning, everyone.

The second meaning of polling in The Britannica Dictionary: the act of voting in an election. It is classified as "chiefly British".

Do you agree?

 

[Chasint]

chiefly British : the act of voting in an election

• Polling starts at 8 a.m.
• (Brit) It's polling day [=(US) election day] today.

I'm British and expressions such as those are commonplace. However I don't agree with the definition.

My opinion is that the political candidates poll the voters (i.e. seek their opinions)*, and the voters vote according to the options they are given at the polling booth.

So no. Voting is the act of voting and polling is the act of inviting and collecting those votes.

Anecdotal evidence
I have never heard anyone say "I am going to poll for the X party" or "I am going to cast my poll today" and it would sound strange if they did. They would say "I am going to vote for the X party" or "I am going to cast my vote today."

___________________________________________________
* They do this via the appropriate official channels.

 

[JulianStuart]

I've never used the word myself, only reading about polls and polling stations etc. The WRF entry from the Collins (BE) dictionary seems OK to me.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
poll/pəʊl/n

1. the casting, recording, or counting of votes in an election; a voting
2. the result or quantity of such a voting: a heavy poll

vb (mainly tr)

1. to receive (a vote or quantity of votes): he polled 10 000 votes
2. to receive, take, or record the votes of: he polled the whole town
3. to canvass (a person, group, area, etc) as part of a survey of opinion
4. (sometimes intr) to cast (a vote) in an election

 

[Chasint]

I've never used the word myself, only reading about polls and polling stations etc. The WRF entry from the Collins (BE) dictionary seems OK to me.

I agree with all of those except for the last one - 4. (sometimes intr) to cast (a vote) in an election

I would like to see some evidence for this last use - until then I simply don't believe it.

 

[JulianStuart]

I would like to see some evidence for this last use - until then I simply don't believe it.

Occasionally I come across words whose definitions sound new/weird etc. However, Collins is pretty good, in my experience, at justifying entries - apparently based on usage from people in whose circles I do not move

 

[natkretep]

We do talk about polling day, poll cards and polling centres (the last two are terms giving in official documents). Are there different names in America?

 

[Loob]

I agree with all of those except for the last one - 4. (sometimes intr) to cast (a vote) in an election

I would like to see some evidence for this last use - until then I simply don't believe it.

I haven't come across that meaning either, but it's in the OED. Here are the most recent intransitive and transitive citations:
1960 I. Jennings Party Polit. I. iii. 69 Each booth was to be divided into compartments, so that not more than 600 electors would be required to poll in one compartment.
2000 W. A. Speck in J. Greene & J. R. Pole Compan. Amer. Revol. 5/1 Landlords would turn out tenants who polled against candidates whom they had recommended.
.....
1944 G. M. Trevelyan Illustr. Eng. Social Hist. (1949) p. xiii It is only by study that we can see our forerunners, remote and recent, in their habits as they lived,..riding out to do homage or to poll a vote.
2004 Business Line (Nexis) 27 Apr. In Kundapur, the 91-year-old Vincent Lobo, assisted by his son, polled his vote.

 

[kentix]

• (Brit) It's polling day [=(US) election day] today.

It seems to me this is referring specifically to the term polling day. I don't know if it's used in BE, but it isn't a standard, common term in the U.S. The common term is election day, although I do see some usage of polling day in COCA, in political discussions.

A common usage in the U.S. is something like:

- When voters go to the polls on election day their main concern will likely be inflation.

We vote in polling places.

Polling Place Locator - Vote.org

"Wondering where you vote on Election Day? Use our polling place locator to find out."

Sometimes polling station is used.

I do not know what a poll card is. We vote on ballots and are allowed to do so when we register to vote and receive a voter registration card.

 

[kentix]

1. to receive (a vote or quantity of votes): he polled 10 000 votes

This is not common usage in the U.S. In fact, speaking in terms of absolute numbers is not at all common in the U.S. We simply talk about percentages. ("He received 53.2% of the vote.") We only refer to specific numbers if it's an extremely close vote and it really, really matters what the exact count is.

This is from a 2019 Guardian obituary:

Before the February 1974 general election, Roderick MacFarquhar appointed me as his press secretary... He was elected with a majority of more than 5,000.​

That's kind of meaningless here since we have no idea what the total number of votes in the election is. If it's a Senate race in a less populous state it could be 300,000 votes. In a more populous state it could be 20 million votes. In the House, each seat is roughly proportional to population, but not exactly, since the seats are first divided among states, before being divided by population. Even the smallest states are guaranteed a minimum of one House seat. So the exact numbers in the election districts vary by state and it makes more sense to stick simply to percentages.

 

[Chasint]

I haven't come across that meaning either, but it's in the OED. Here are the most recent intransitive and transitive citations:
1960 I. Jennings Party Polit. I. iii. 69 Each booth was to be divided into compartments, so that not more than 600 electors would be required to poll in one compartment.
2000 W. A. Speck in J. Greene & J. R. Pole Compan. Amer. Revol. 5/1 Landlords would turn out tenants who polled against candidates whom they had recommended.
.....
1944 G. M. Trevelyan Illustr. Eng. Social Hist. (1949) p. xiii It is only by study that we can see our forerunners, remote and recent, in their habits as they lived,..riding out to do homage or to poll a vote.
2004 Business Line (Nexis) 27 Apr. In Kundapur, the 91-year-old Vincent Lobo, assisted by his son, polled his vote.

Thanks Loob. Yes, that seems to be the evidence. I suppose I shall have to accept it!

 

[Loob]

 

[natkretep]

I do not know what a poll card is. We vote on ballots and are allowed to do so when we register to vote and receive a voter registration card.

It's a kind of notification to say you are eligible to vote and indicates your polling centre. The Wikipedia article files it under the headword 'voter invitation card' Voter invitation card - Wikipedia

 

[CaptainZero]

I haven't heard "polling centre". In Australia we go to polling booths to vote.

 

[Loob]

I go to my nearest polling station.

 

[CaptainZero]

I go to my nearest polling station.

What you call a polling station is technically a "polling place" here (according to the Australian Electoral Commission website), while the "polling booths" are the semi-enclosed compartments inside whatever building is being used as the polling place. But the polling places themselves have always been called polling booths here.

 

[kentix]

Originally, the booth here was the thing in the old days you literally walked into and pulled a lever to close the curtain behind you, for privacy. It had mechanical levers for different candidates in each race*. It was sort of like a phone booth, which I assume is not a coincidence.

Those started disappearing about forty years ago and in every election I have participated in it is basically just a little walk-up "booth" with dividers on the side that gives you privacy without enclosing you. (It might vary by state.) The first elections I voted in used punch card ballots (with a little metal pin) and now they are electronic. I guess it's probably still called a voting booth by some people. I think the instructions might call it a kiosk.

The ones at the place I vote (my polling place or polling station) aren't exactly like this but are similar.

* As discussed in other places on WR, in the U.S. we vote for many different people for many different offices, so tabulating everything is a big job. I think I counted 18 candidates I selected in the last election - county, state and federal.

 

[Edinburgher]

In Australia we go to polling booths to vote.

Our polling booths are in the polling stations.
A polling station is typically a large room, perhaps in a church hall, school, or community centre.

At the polling station there is a reception desk (or perhaps several) where you show your polling card (not an absolute requirement, but it makes the process quicker -- alternatively you can just tell them your name and address and show some ID). Your name is then crossed off a list (so that you don't vote more than once), and you are given a ballot paper and directed to the polling booths of which there might be a dozen, where you vote by placing crosses in boxes on the ballot paper using --you guessed it-- a pencil. Then you'd return to the desk an put your paper in the ballot box.

The pencil used to be tied on with a bit of string, but the last time I voted, it was as we were coming out of the depths of Covidmania, and this pencil was considered a risk: a vehicle by which voters who might be infected could spread the disease to others, so we were given a pencil at the desk, which we could then keep. They were small, like the ones you get at IKEA. This was all a bit silly, since you'd be touching the writing surface in the booth anyway.

 

[Wordy McWordface]

you vote by placing crosses in boxes on the ballot paper

...and just in case any (chiefly American) readers are confused by what we mean by placing crosses, a cross is one of these

 

[Roxxxannne]

Here are a couple of sentence to illustrate the language that I use:
On Election Day I went to the polling place in my election district, where I was given a ballot by a poll worker, which I took to a voting booth to fill out. In my district, Wilfrid Featherstonehaugh won by 32 votes out of a total of 610 votes cast; in the state he won with 66% of the votes.

 

[kentix]

I voted with one of these. Presumably it's intended to keep people's grubby fingers off the voting screens. The rubber tip activates the touch screen.

They didn't take them back.

 

[Welsh_Sion]

What you call a polling station is technically a "polling place" here (according to the Australian Electoral Commission website), while the "polling booths" are the semi-enclosed compartments inside whatever building is being used as the polling place. But the polling places themselves have always been called polling booths here.

Same in Scotland.

England and Wales have polling stations (and the Welsh language equivalent in Wales), whereas Scotland has polling places.

 

[Welsh_Sion]

...and just in case any (chiefly American) readers are confused by what we mean by placing crosses, a cross is one of these

Agreed. Traditionally, the mark made by the illiterate.