The Ballon d'or was always an award given through a points system with respected football writers from all over Europe voting. It's never been a group from France Football as far as I know. Usually the German voter was the main journalist of the kicker magazine. That's why it was always valued higher than the other awards. It really was voted by all the relevant countries. For example, when Stanley Matthews won the first ever Ballon d'or, the following 16 nations voted:This draft got me thinking a little more about how times change. Today, the Ballon d'Or is seen as almost the definitive last word on the rankings of elite players every year at least in any sort of official capacity since obviously everyone has opinions. But its still just one group from France Football. In the 1980s and before a lot of other magazines were held in equal regard as far as their journalist polling for great players and tournament ratings. El Grafico from Argentina, Guerin Sportivo from Italy, Kicker from Germany and others were generally just as respected as France Football. Then you also had a lot of newspapers from every country doing their own journal polls for player of the year.
There were 16 voters, from Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, England, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, West Germany and Yugoslavia.
Of course it was only about European players up to the early 90's, so it wasn't relevant for South American players. Not sure what the equivalent for South America would be up until the Ballon d'Or became open for all players and not just European.