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In this illustration of the 1904 election (Theodore Roosevelt v. Alton B. Parker), Puck stands on a ballot box.
In this illustration of the 1904 election (Theodore Roosevelt v. Alton B. Parker), Puck stands on a ballot box.
Image: Puck magazine, via Library of Congress
Democracy is a Greek word, the brilliant combination of two roots: demos (people) and kratos (rule).

   Election is another perfect word (rooted in the Latin electus, meaning choice). But not all terms that we use during elections are so straightforward. Some, in fact, have surprising histories.
   So with the help of Webster's New World Collegiate Dictionary (Webster's New World; 2016), Encyclopedia Britannica online, The American Heritage Dictionary (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 2016), and Oxford Dictionary's website, here are the origins and definitions for words commonly associated with elections:

     Related: 

     Four phrases associated with the Cold War 

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