History behind the word "Suffrage" (casting votes with horse bones)?

Ashley

New member
According to all the online dictionaries, the word Suffrage comes "from the Latin suffragium, meaning 'voting tablet', and figuratively "right to vote", and originally a term for the pastern bone used to cast votes."

I don't recall ever seeing a horse's ankle bone in a voting booth, so that was obviously before my time. But I can't find any other reference to a pastern being used to cast votes, besides these definitions. When, where and how did that work?
 
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