balota

Balota is a Tagalog term used in the Philippines to refer to a ballot or ballot paper used in elections. The balota is the physical document that voters mark to indicate their choices. After voting, the balota is collected and counted by electoral authorities, typically within a ballot box or through an electoral counting system. The word appears routinely in official election materials and media coverage, and is part of common voter education language. The act of voting by ballot is described with verbs such as bumoto (to vote) or magbalota (to perform ballot action). Elections commonly involve multiple balotas, one per voter, and the integrity of the balotas' handling is a frequent topic of oversight and reform discussions. The term is used primarily in the Philippines; in other Filipino languages or dialects, equivalent terms exist, but balota is widely understood in Tagalog-language discourse around elections.