page_title: Ballot laws of the Roman Republic
section_title: Ballot laws
hierarchical_section_title: Ballot laws of the Roman Republic / Ballot laws
caption_attribution_description: English: Obverse: the head of Dea Roma. On the lower left is a ballot urn. Reverse: A personification of Libertas in a chariot, holding the cap (pileus) and staff (vindicta) of freedom. This coin was struck by C Cassius around 126 BC and commemorates the Lex Cassia tabellaria of 137 BC, which mandated the use of the secret ballot for all trials in the popular assemblies with the exception of treason cases.
context_page_description: The ballot laws of the Roman Republic were four laws which introduced the secret ballot to all popular assemblies in the republic. They were all introduced by tribunes, and consisted of the lex Gabinia tabellaria of 139 BC, applying to the election of magistrates; the lex Cassia tabellaria of 137 BC, applying to juries except in cases of treason; the lex Papiria of 131 BC, applying to the passing of laws; and the lex Caelia of 107 BC, which expanded the lex Cassia to include matters of treason. Prior to the ballot laws, voters announced their votes orally to a teller, essentially making every vote public. The ballot laws curtailed the influence of the aristocratic class and expanded the freedom of choice for voters. Elections became more competitive. Counter-intuitively, the secret ballot also led to an increase in bribery by removing social pressure as a means of obtaining votes.
context_section_description: The ballot laws were not the first election laws to be passed.  Due to the apparent ineffectiveness of the anti-corruption lex Baebia of 181 BC, the Cornelian-Fulvian law of 159 BC was passed, again targeting corruption.  Extending the sumptuary law (lex Orchia) of 182 BC, the lex Didia of 143 BC restricted spending on banquets in all of Italy.  In 145 BC, a bill by the tribune L. Licinius Crassus proposed that priesthoods be elected instead of co-opted.  While advocating for his proposal, he pointedly turned his back on the senators in the comitium and spoke directly to the people in the Roman Forum.
  The only detailed ancient account of the ballot laws is Cicero's De Legibus (III. 33-9).  Written in the last years of the Republic, De Legibus is a fictional dialogue between Cicero, his brother Quintus, and their mutual friend Atticus.  In the dialogue, the three discuss their conception of the ideal Roman constitution.  In Book III 33-9, Cicero summarizes the passage of the ballot laws; the three subsequently criticize the laws and propose repeal or alteration.  Cicero, an opponent of the laws, portrays the sponsors of the ballot laws as demagogues currying favor with the masses.
  The ballot laws were highly controversial and strongly opposed by the optimates.  Pliny remarks:
  You remember, no doubt, having often read what commotions were occasioned by the ballot law (lex tabellaria), and how much its author was both approved and condemned.
  The first ballot law (the lex Gabinia tabellaria) was introduced in 139 BC for the election of magistrates by the tribune Aulus Gabinius, whom Cicero called "an unknown and sordid agitator".  The law mandated a secret ballot for the election of magistrates in all assemblies.  Gabinius, the first person of that name known to hold political office in Rome, was from a family that had low-status (possibly slave origins) in Cales, and was able to enter politics due to the military success of his father. 
  The reasons behind the law are unclear, as are the circumstances surrounding its passage.  It is thought that this law was adopted following the acquittal that L. Aurelius Cotta obtained by corrupting the judges in 138 BC.  According to the Cambridge Ancient History, the law was undoubtedly justified as giving freedom to the people, but may have also have been intended to curb bribery of voters by candidates.  Ursula Hall believes that the law "was undoubtedly largely supported by men of substance wanting to challenge aristocratic control of office.  In purpose this law was not, in a modern sense, 'democratic', not designed to give more power to voters, much less candidates, from lower ranks in the Roman system."  Hall and Harris both claim because literacy was uncommon in ancient Rome and the written ballot would have required literacy, the Gabinian law must have restricted voting to a small and prosperous minority, with Harris suggesting that this was intentional.  However, Alexander Yakobson argues that the Gabinian law was a genuine piece of popular legislation benefiting a broad section of the electorate.  He points out that the law applied just as much to the Tribal Assembly, which had no property qualification, as it did to the Centuriate Assembly.  He also claims that the level of literacy necessary for voting was low as voters only had to write the initials of the preferred candidate.  The assumption that literacy was low is itself controversial.  In fact, Edward Best flipped the argument around, using the ballot laws as evidence that literacy was widespread in Rome. Subsequent improvements or extensions to the law were the lex Papiria(131 BC), the lex Maria and lex Caelia (107 BC), all aimed at limiting corruption.  Together these laws are called leges tabellariae.
  The second law was introduced by Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla in 137 BC. It extended the secret ballot for trials in the popular assembly. It mandated the secret ballot for judicial votes, with the exception of cases on treason. The passing of the law was resisted by the tribune Marcus Antius Briso who threatened to a
caption: Obverse: the head of Libertas, the Roman goddess of liberty. On the lower left is a ballot urn.[27] Reverse: A personification of Libertas in a chariot, holding the cap (pileus) and staff (vindicta) of freedom. This coin was struck by C Cassius around 126 BC and commemorates the Lex Cassia tabellaria of 137 BC,[27] which mandated the use of the secret ballot for all trials in the popular assemblies with the exception of treason cases.
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