Обсуждение:blackball
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This word is a verb, not a noun. I can explain it better in English than in Russian.
In freemasons' lodges, or in old-fashioned British clubs, existing members would vote by secret yes-no ballot whether to admit a new member, as follows: After having heard the would-be member's résumé and any member's opinion about him, members in good standing (among freemasons, Master Masons of the concerned Lodge) would each receive one white and one black ball, then the master of ceremonies would go round with one white bag (for the vote) and one black bag (for the counter-vote). A vote "in favour" of the candidate is expressed by putting the white ball into the white bag and the black ball into the black one; a vote "against" is the opposite.
Now let us assume that the "house rules" require 4/5 of the votes to be in favour of a new candidate for the latter to be made a member (this is not unrealistic) and that there are 37 voters. 1/5 of 37 is 7.4 and 4/5 are 29.6. This would mean that the candidate requires at least 30 "white" votes: in that case there are 7 black ones, 4*7 = 28 < 30, and the candidate is admitted. Conversely, with 8 against and 29 in favour, 4*8 = 32 > 29, and the candidate is "blackballed", i.e. rejected.
By extension, the verb "to blackball" has come to mean "to reject" a candidate, or even (more rarely) a proposition, by voting against him/it.