Looks Boring? Wait Till You See What It Did
June 24, 2025
Source: Reddit
The other weekend up in Piermont, N.Y., someone took this strange wooden box out and said, “You know what this is?”
It sounded solid pine, loaf-sized. Hinges on both ends. A handle. Within, a little wooden cup and one yellow wooden ball were all. Looked as if it belonged in a magician’s act.
As it happened, a black ball voting box.
What Is the Definition of a Black Ball Voting Box?
In the 1800s and early 1900s, clubs like the Freemasons and Odd Fellows used them for voting whether to admit new members. You dropped a white ball in the hole to say yes, and a black ball to say no; the votes were secret.
Then they’d flip open the other side and count the balls. One black ball? Rejected.
There’s where the term “blackballed” originated. Literal black balls. That wasn’t just slang — it was policy.
The Box I Discovered Had All the Marks
That one, in Piermont, had all the bells and whistles: independently hinged lids, hidden compartments, a funnel to channel the balls into a lower chamber. It was simple but smart.
The apparatus ensured your vote went in unseen. You released your choice into the hole, and it vanished in the darkness.
All the way to the very end, no votes seen. Drama built in.
Quick Side Tangent
I love old stuff. Flea markets, estate sales, attics — I’m a digger all the time. So when I saw this box, I had my little buzz. Not even because it’s rare, but because some human actually used this. Maybe to keep someone out. Maybe to let someone in.
And yes, I did momentarily contemplate bringing it to the office. “Lunch vote time — white: pizza, black: salad.” But only to watch how many colleagues freak out.
From Secret Ballots to Mundane Jargon
It is a charge that acquires substance when the physical box appears. One ball, total rejection. No appeals. No explanations.
Now it’s a word that people just throw around and have no idea there was a thing, an actual object, that was the bilbo. It wasn’t metaphorical. It was a box with a mission.
If You Find One, Keep It
They are not common, but they aren’t impossible to find. If you do, hang on to it. It’s not just a quirky relic — it’s a direct line to the way people made decisions at a time when everything had to be secret, stay serious and become final.
And now you know: blackballed’ was more than a phrase. It was a vote you could put into your hand.
