The word for today is…
suffrage (noun) – 1. (a) The right or privilege of voting; franchise.
(b) The exercise of such a right.
- A vote cast in deciding a disputed question or in electing a person to office.
- A short intercessory prayer.
Source : The Free Dictionary
Etymology : Late 14th century, “intercessory prayers or pleas on behalf of another,” from Old French sofrage “plea, intercession” (13th century) and directly from Medieval Latin suffragium, from Latin suffragium “support, ballot, vote; right of voting; a voting tablet,” from suffragari “lend support, vote for someone,” conjectured to be a compound of sub “under” + fragor “crash, din, shouts (as of approval),” related to frangere “to break” (from PIE root *bhreg- “to break”). On another theory (Watkins, etc.) the second element is frangere itself and the notion is “use a broken piece of tile as a ballot” (compare ostracism). Meaning “a vote for or against anything” is from 1530s. The meaning “political right to vote” in English is first found in the U.S. Constitution, 1787.
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