Elections in the Roman Republic

In the Roman Republic, elections were held annually for every major magistracy. They were conducted before two assemblies (Latin: comitia): the centuriate and tribal assemblies. The centuriate assembly, made up of centuries divided by wealth and age, elected the senior magistrates: those with imperium (the consuls and the praetors) and the censors. The tribal assembly, made up of tribes grouped by geography, elected all other magistrates. Plebeian tribunes and aediles were also elected by the tribal assembly although in a slightly different form.

The formal electoral process started with an announcement by the prospective presiding magistrate of an election day, typically in July. Candidates then professed their candidacy to that magistrate. On the day of the election, the voting unit – centuries or tribes – would be called to give their votes. Citizens voted in person for their candidate and the unit registered one vote for each open post (eg, for the two consuls, a century would vote for two candidates). Once a candidate received a majority, 97 centuries or 18 tribes, he won and was removed from the contest. Once all posts were filled, elections ended and all centuries or tribes that had not voted were dismissed. If nightfall came before elections were complete, the entire process had to restart, typically on the next legislative day.

There were no political parties in the republic. Candidates campaigned largely on their own personal virtue, personal or family reputation, or gifts distributed to voters. Reflecting the unpredictability of elections, bribes given to voters in the form of money, food, and games were a common and burdensome campaign expense. Regardless, those with a family reputation in politics (ie the nobiles) – and a family name that could be recognised by the voters – regularly dominated electoral results.

Roman elections, while extremely important for political life because no legislation could be passed without the initiative of a magistrate, were not representative of the citizenry. The malapportionment of the comitia centuriata weighted the 193 centuries, each of which received one vote, strongly towards the old and rich. The comitia tributa gave each of the 35 tribes the same vote even if the number of voters within them was wildly different. Moreover, because all public affairs were conducted in person, poorer people from the countryside unable to take the time off to travel to Rome were unable to exercise their rights. And even though all freed slaves became citizens on manumission, they were confined to the four "urban" tribes regardless of actual residence, limiting their voice in politics. Scholars have estimated that, in the late republic, turnout could not have been more than about 10 per cent.

After the fall of the republic and the establishment of the Roman Empire, elections – thoroughly dominated by the emperor's influence – initially continued. However, during the reign of Tiberius, the power of nomination was transferred to the senate. Then on, with a short interlude under Caligula, all magistrates were nominated in a list that was then inevitably confirmed by an assembly. After some time, this too was abolished. Elections at the municipal level, conducted under bylaws which were generally modelled on the republican constitution, however, continued well into the first and second centuries AD.