ABSTRACT
The objective of this article is to compare ancient and modern criticisms of elections and voting by focusing on the specific case of the Roman Republic in its last century. After a brief reflection on the origins of the modern vocabulary on elections and voting, the author discusses the reasons for the criticisms of ancient authors such as Cicero to the introduction of the secret ballot and the efforts that a candidate for a Roman election needed to make to be elected. He concludes by noting how much this incursion into Roman politics in the first century BC helps us to reflect on the limitations of current democracies, but also to question the attitude of all those who seem to be more content to condemn voters for not knowing how to vote than to strive to overcome the limitations of our system to popular participation.
Keywords:
Ancient Rome; Late Roman Republic; Secret ballot; Elections; Popular participation