Voting Rights as Human Rights in Ancient Rome

Although we lack any statement that identifies political rights as human rights in ancient Rome, this article explores the idea that Romans viewed voting rights as a fundamental aspect of their Republican system. Foundation myths that the Romans told about their own state stress the importance of incorporating new people as citizens. Reflecting these tales, the Romans were unusually generous in extending the franchise to allies, conquered enemies, and even former slaves. As citizenship was extended across the Italian peninsula, the Roman system faced new challenges as citizens had to travel ever greater distances to the city of Rome to exercise their political rights. It is in this context that the Romans developed an innovative system of casting ballots in local cities that would be transported to Rome at the time of elections. This article argues that the introduction of a postal ballot in Rome in the late first century BCE, two millennia before its reintroduction in the modern world, offers practical evidence that the Romans viewed voting rights as foundational for all people living in their state.