How Did the Ancient Romans Vote?

The Ancient Romans used special stones to vote, just like you might use candies or toys to pick your favorite game.

In ancient Rome, when people wanted to choose a leader or decide something important, they used voting stones. These were little pieces of rock that looked like pebbles, some were smooth and white, and others were rough and black.

• If you liked one person, you picked up a white stone.
• If you didn’t like them, you picked up a black stone.

Everyone would put their stone into a big jar or pile. Then someone would count how many of each color there were, the person with more white stones won!

Imagine your class is picking between pizza and ice cream for lunch. If you pick pizza, you drop a white stone in the jar; if you pick ice cream, you drop a black stone.

At the end of voting time, the teacher counts them, if there are more white stones, they get pizza! That’s just like how Romans decided who would be their leader.