How did ancient people vote before ballot boxes? Athenians voted with broken pottery, Spartans shouted, Romans let the rich vote first, and one election ended with the roof torn off a palace.

From ostracism in ancient Athens to the secret ballot in Rome, this is the strange history of voting. We look at the first rigged election, the lottery machine called the kleroterion, and why Athenians thought elections favored the rich.

Then we travel to Sparta's shouting elections, Pompeii's election graffiti, Buddhist voting sticks, the Chola-era kudavolai pot system in Uttaramerur, the Viking Althing, the three-year papal election of Viterbo, and how Venice gave us the word ballot.

Finally, how the secret Australian ballot spread around the world, and when New Zealand became the first country where women voted in national elections.

Chapters:
0:00 The Man Who Voted Himself Out
0:54 This Week, Millions Voted
1:31 Voting with Broken Pots
2:27 The First Rigged Election?
3:20 A Show of Hands
4:21 Elections Are for Rich People
5:19 Who Got to Vote
5:47 The Vote That Backfired
6:31 Sparta: Loudest Wins
7:15 Rome: The Rich Vote First
8:05 The White Toga
8:47 Pompeii Election Graffiti
9:34 The Secret Ballot
10:12 India: Sticks and Pots
11:24 Vikings Clash Their Weapons
11:57 Locked In Without a Roof
12:56 Where Ballot Comes From
13:43 Voting Out Loud
14:38 Who Was Finally Allowed
15:04 Your Turn

Sources:
- Plutarch, Life of Aristides 7
- Aristotle, Constitution of the Athenians & Politics
- Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus 26
- Lang, M. - Ostraka, The Athenian Agora vol. 25 (1990)
- Commentariolum Petitionis (64 BC)
- Uttaramerur inscriptions of Parantaka I (c. 919-921 AD)
- Cicero, De Lege Agraria 2.4
- Mowbray & Gollmann - Electing the Doge of Venice (2007)

#history #election #ancienthistory