A small wax tablet was handed to the voters, who inscribed their vote on them with a stylus. On a "yes" vote, they would inscribe a plain "V" standing for uti rogas ("as you ask, as you want").
In judicial cases, the voter would inscribe an "L" for libero ("I absolve") for acquittal.
In elections of magistrates, the voter would have to write on the tablet the name of the candidate he preferred. It is said that M. Porcius Cato rejected any votes that had been obviously written by the same hand (Plut. Cat. Min. 46).