Firsts & History
Around the World
Rules of the Ballot
Odd Ballots
Russia
100
In 1893, this Pacific country became the first self-governing nation to let women vote in national elections.
New Zealand
100
BACK TO ZERO
100
In most countries around the world, the minimum voting age is this number.
18
100
When cardinals elect a new pope, this color of smoke from the chimney means they've chosen one.
White
100
Russia is so wide that it spans this many time zones, so polls open and close hours apart across the country.
What is 11?
200
Nelson Mandela cast his first-ever vote in this country's 1994 election, the first in which all races could vote.
South Africa
200
Since 2000, every vote in this South American country has been cast on electronic voting machines.
Brazil
200
Austria, Argentina, and Brazil allow citizens as young as this age to vote.
16
200
Pioneered in Australia in the 1850s, this now-universal practice lets you mark your choice privately. (2 words)
Secret ballot
200
The lower house of Russia's parliament has this name, from a Russian verb meaning "to think."
Duma
300
This Alpine nation is famous for direct democracy, yet its women couldn't vote in national elections until 1971.
Switzerland
300
DOUBLE JEOPARDY (worth 600): In 2005, this small Baltic country became the first to allow internet voting in a national election.
Estonia
300
In this country, voting is compulsory and you can be fined for skipping it. Election day is famous for sausage sizzles.
Australia
300
Astronauts have cast their votes in U.S. elections from orbit aboard this space station.
ISS (International Space Station)
300
In 1991, Boris Yeltsin won Russia's first direct popular vote for this office.
President
400
The word "democracy" comes from this ancient language and means "rule by the people."
Greek
400
This Southeast Asian archipelago held the world's largest single-day election in 2024, with over 200 million eligible voters.
Indonesia
400
Voters in this country, the world's most populous democracy, get an inked finger to prevent double voting.
India
400
The word "ballot" comes from the Italian ballotta, meaning a small one of these round objects, which early voters used to cast their votes.
ball
400
In March 1989, voters in the USSR took part in the first partly competitive national election in decades, held under this leader's reforms.
Mikhail Gorbachev
500
In 1906, this Nordic country, then part of the Russian Empire, became the first in the world to let women both vote and run for parliament.
Finland
500
Every five years, citizens of the EU's member countries vote to choose members of this body.
The European Parliament
500
The 26th Amendment lowered the voting age to 18 in this country in 1971.
United States
500
Ancient Athenians scratched names on pottery pieces to vote someone into 10 years of exile, giving us this word.
Ostracism
500
BACK TO ZERO!