CSS - Visited Link format won't apply

Question

Hello,
The following is a column that I have in a table, and its cells are all hyperlinks that trigger some AJAX.  The hyperlink works great.  However, I would like the background color to turn white after the link has been clicked.  It seems like this could be easily done with CSS, but it's not working as I would expect.  Here is the code I have for the column:
print "<td class='ballot'>".'<span class="button" id="button'.$row['id'].'">'.'<a href="javascript:;" class="cell1" id="'.$row['id'].'">'.Vote.'</a>'.'</span>'."</td>";
I have the following CSS applied to the column:
table.navbar td a.cell1:link {
   color: #000;
   background-color: #A7E6FE;
   text-decoration: none;
   text-align: center;
   vertical-align:middle;
   height: 14px;
table.navbar td a.cell1:visited {
   color: #fff;
   background-color: #fff;
   text-decoration: none;
   text-align: center;
   vertical-align:middle;
   height: 14px;
.ballot { width: 40px;
a.ballot:visited {
   color: #FFFFFF;
   background-color: #FFFFFF;
I would expect this CSS to make the column turn white (color #FFFFFF) after its link has been clicked, but it's not happening.  Any ideas why my CSS is not working?
Thanks in advance,
John

Answer 1

OK, below I listed the entire table, and all of the CSS that applies.  The table has three columns, everything works great, but I want the background of the cells in third column to turn color #FFFFFF after they are clicked.  I do not want the background of the cell in the first column to change color when it is clicked.  Thanks.
if(mysql_num_rows($result)>0){
while($table=mysql_fetch_row($result)){
print "<p class=\"topic\">$table[0]</p>\n";
$r=mysql_query("SELECT * , votes_up - votes_down AS effective_vote FROM `$table[0]` ORDER BY effective_vote DESC")
print "<table class=\"navbar\">\n";
while($row=mysql_fetch_array($r)){
$effective_vote = $row['votes_up'] - $row['votes_down'];
print "<tr>";
print "<td>".'<a href="http://'.$row['site'].'" class="links2">'.$row['site'].'</a>'."</td>";
print "<td class='votes'>".'<span class="votes_count" id="votes_count'.$row['id'].'">'.number_format($effective_vote).'</span>'."</td>";
print "<td class='ballot'>".'<span class="button" id="button'.$row['id'].'">'.'<a href="javascript:;" class="cell1" id="'.$row['id'].'">'.Vote.'</a>'.'</span>'."</td>";
print "</tr>\n";
print "</table>\n";
else{
print "None found";
CSS:
.topic
    width:500px;
    margin-left:250px;
    margin-top:30px;
    text-align: left;
    margin-bottom:3px;
    padding:0px;
    font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
    font-size: 25px;
    font-weight: bold;
    color:#000000;
table.navbar {
       margin-left:250px;
    margin-top:30px;
    text-align: left;
    font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif ;
    font-weight: normal;
    font-size: 12px;
    color: #000000;
    width: 550px;
    background-color: #A7E6FE;
    border: 1px #FFFFFF;
    border-collapse: collapse;
    border-spacing: 4px;
    padding: 4px;
    text-decoration: none;   
table.navbar td {
   border: 2px solid #fff; 
   text-align: left;
   height: 20px
table.navbar td a{
   display: block;
   padding: 3px;
a.links2:link {
     color: #000000;
    text-decoration: none;
     text-align:left;
    margin-top:5px;
    margin-bottom:2px;
    margin-left:2px;
    padding:0px;
    font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
    font-size: 12px;
    width: 150px;
    height: 14px;
    vertical-align:middle;
a.links2:visited {
     color: #000000;
    text-decoration: none;
     text-align:left;
    margin-top:5px;
    margin-bottom:2px;
    margin-left:2px;
    padding:0px;
    font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
    font-size: 12px;
    width: 150px;
    height: 14px;
    vertical-align:middle;
a.links2:hover {
     color: #000000; text-decoration: underline;
    text-align:left;
    margin-top:5px;
    margin-bottom:2px;
    margin-left:2px;
    padding:0px;
    font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
    font-size: 12px;
    width: 150px;
    height: 14px;
    vertical-align:middle;
a.links2:active {
     color: #000000;
     text-align:left;
    margin-top:5px;
    margin-bottom:2px;
    margin-left:2px;
    padding:0px;
    font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
    font-size: 12px;
    width:150px;
    height: 14px;
    vertical-align:middle;
.votes { width: 125px;
.ballot { width: 40px;
a.ballot:visited {
   color: #FFFFFF;
   background-color: #FFFFFF;
table.navbar td a.cell1:link {
   color: #000;
   background-color: #A7E6FE;
   text-decoration: none;
   text-align: center;
   vertical-align:middle;
   height: 14px;
table.navbar td a.cell1:visited {
   color: #fff;
   background-color: #FFFFFF;
   text-decoration: none;
   text-align: center;
   vertical-align:middle;
   height: 14px;
table.navbar td a.cell1:hover, table.navbar td a.cell1:active {
   border: 0px solid #fff;
   color: #000;
   background-color: #00F0F0;
   text-decoration: none;
   text-align: center;
   height: 14px;