Elections in the Roman Republic
Upper-class interests, centered in the urban political environment of cities, often trumped the concerns of the diverse and disunified lower class; while at times, the people already in power would pre-select candidates for office, further reducing the value of voters’ input.
As the practice of electoral campaigning grew in use and extent, the pool of candidates was no longer limited to a select group with riches and high birth.
Instead, many more ordinary citizens had a chance to run for office, allowing for more equal representation in key government decisions.
Popular elections for high office were largely undermined and then brought to an end by Augustus, the first Roman emperor (r. 27 BC – AD 14).
Elections were a central element to the history and politics of Rome for some 500 years, and the major historians such as Livy and Plutarch make frequent references to them.
While his major works touch on elections, his daily life was immersed in late Republican politics, and his surviving letters and orations are the most valuable.
This was a timocratic assembly descended from the organisation of the early Roman Army, and the centuries were organized into tiers by rank and property with cavalry equites at the top and unarmed and unpropertied at the bottom.
Prior to 139 BC and the passage of the lex Gabinia tabellaria, a voter would queue on raised gangway and then state to a clerk his ballot.
In the tribes, after 139 BC, the voting was likely simultaneous, but tallied in an order determined by lot, with results ending also when all posts were filled.
[13] Through the republican period, voting occurred only in person: only when elections became irrelevant in the early Principate were provisions made for ballots from Italian towns to be transmitted under seal to Rome.
Even in the late republic, having the requisite lex curiata de imperio was considered necessary for a magistrate to hold provincial command.
Later on in the Roman Republic a practice called professio was established, in which potential candidates started to “profess to the magistrate”[3] their wish to be nominated for candidacy.
This led to the nominated candidates publicly advertising their aspirations to office and even “[conducting] their own canvass,”[24] clearly campaigning with the idea of voters’ choice in mind.
In addition to creating relationships with the wealthy, Quintus also advised Marcus to "remind everyone in your debt that they should repay you with their support."
In Marcus's response to his brother, he noted that "people would prefer you give them a gracious lie than an outright refusal.
In addition to flattery and favor-trading, politicians would even resort to ad hominem tactics; in particular, one can find inscribed on the toilets of public buildings in Pompeii numerous attacks on the character or constituency of opponents running for office.
Bribery became such a commonplace practice in the later Republic that it was seen as a normal part of the political process, and ranged anywhere from the blatant promising of money to simply hosting games and entertaining the people.
Political office, then, was no longer restricted to those of noble birth, and the Republic began to transition from an aristocratic government to become more oligarchic in nature.
Some sources assert that the money gained from bribes actually helped common voters afford the cost of voting.
[31] In fact, the biggest target of this corruption was these poorer citizens, revealing that these voters still had considerable influence in the outcome of elections.
[29] However, the consequences of such corruption caused a lack of faith in the constitution and the political process, which led, in part, to civil war.
[30] Corruption posed the greatest problem in the later Republic when the lucrative benefits of high office led to more competitive elections.
[32] The Tribal Council on its surface was equitable, for example, but actually worked in favor of elites who had the resources to travel to the city to participate in the election.
[36] When it came to electing officials and magistrates higher up, though, that responsibility still lay with the Centuriate Assembly, which was for the most part controlled by patrician interests.
[38] Voting for most offices was open to all full Roman citizens, a group that excluded women, slaves and originally those living outside of Rome.
[41] Augustus had extensive influence over the magistrates as well; he was given the power to grant commendation to candidates for office, which became a guarantee of winning the election.
Eventually, late in his principate, Augustus eliminated direct election entirely, establishing designation by a group of senators and equites.
Citizens were still allowed to elect municipal officers, but filling higher-level posts was left entirely to those already in power.
The remains of Pompeii found several graffiti inscriptions lauding one candidate or another, indicating that contested elections were still underway there in AD 79.
