absentee ballot  A ballot cast by mail, by a voter who cannot come to the polling place.

ballot  A piece of paper or card used to cast a secret vote.

ballot slip  A slip of paper, signed by a poll worker at the registration table, that authorizes a voter to receive a ballot.

ballot table  The table where the ballots are kept, and where the ballot slips are stored in order after they have been exchanged for ballots.  Voters come here second, after getting a ballot slip, before marking their ballots and inserting them into the tabulator.

mark-sense ballot  A card or stiff paper with spaces that a voter marks with a special pen to indicate the candidates voted for. 

polling place  The location where the voters of a specific precinct can vote.

poll worker  One of the people who administer a polling place on the day of an election.

precinct  A geographical area for organizing elections. 

provisional ballot  A ballot cast by a person who may not be registered in the precinct where he/she is casting a vote, and which is kept secret in an individual envelope until it can be determined whether the voter was registered in that precinct or not.

pollbook  The list of voters registered in a precinct.

registration table  The table on which the pollbooks are kept.  Voters come here first when they enter the polling place, before proceeding to the ballot table.

PTO  (Precinct Transfer Officer) The poll worker who takes care of voters who are not in the pollbook.