by ballot

基本解释

Instead, it encourages special interests to wage war by ballot measure until one lobby prevails and imposes its will on all.
相反，它鼓励那些特定利益团体发起选票大战，直到一方取胜，将其意志施加于所有人。
California’s governorship is a pretty weak one: the state’s government is a mess of competing districts, counties and cities, with much of the budget mandated by ballot initiatives.
加州州长本来就不是一个强势的位置：州政府由一群混乱的下级政府（地区、郡县、城市）组成，相互之间还多存在竞争关系，而且大多数的预算取决于全民投票的结果（译者注：加州的政治中全民投票是很重要的环节，经常被使用，甚至被某些政治研究机构称为加州政府的第四分支）。
He was elected by ballot.
他以投票表决获选。

There is debate over "budget by ballot" putting tax questions to popular votes.
His re-election bid is being tarnished by reports of massive ballot-box stuffing by his supporters, who also allegedly created fake polling sites.
But the former foreign minister says he will not accept the results, alleging favoritism in the process for the incumbent and the inclusion of tainted votes amid widespread reports of wholesale ballot box stuffing by Karzai supporters.

Several states banned same sex marriage last year by ballot initiative and it's still a hot button issue.
NPR: Year in Review: Homosexuality in the Headlines