balotar

A rare, formal verb meaning to vote using balotas — small balls historically dropped into an urn to cast a yes/no vote in some assemblies and religious communities. Confusingly for learners, it shares a root with the everyday word balotaje (a runoff election, common across Latin American political news), but balotar itself has fallen out of ordinary use.

• En algunas cofradías antiguas, los miembros balotaban para admitir a un nuevo socio. — In some old religious brotherhoods, members voted with balls to admit a new member.
• El reglamento exigía balotar en secreto sobre cada candidato. — The rules required voting by ballot in secret on each candidate.
• Ya nadie balota; hoy se vota con papeletas o de forma electrónica. — No one votes with balls anymore; today people vote with paper ballots or electronically.

Don't confuse balotar with the everyday noun balotaje (a runoff election, all over Latin American news) — the noun stayed current while the verb it came from became archaic; votar is what a learner should use for "to vote" today.

Often confused with votar.