O.E.
husting "meeting, court, tribunal," from O.N.
husðing "council," from
hus "house" +
ðing "assembly" (see
thing); so called because it was a meeting of the men who formed the "household" of a nobleman or king. The native O.E. word for this was
folc-gemot. The plural became the usual form c.1500; sense of "temporary platform for political speeches" developed by 1719 from London's Court of Hustings, presided over by the Lord Mayor, which was held on a platform in the Guildhall. This sense broadened to encompass the whole election process.
[huhs-tingz] 
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