The focal point of Roman politics was the annual elections of new magistrates. The appointments of quaestors, aediles, praetors, consuls and censors, in addition to a large number of minor officials, were central events in the public calendar of the Roman republic. And judging from the scale of the electoral facilities in the Campus Martius they clearly attracted larger crowds than the legislative assemblies, which convened in the smaller venues of the Forum and the Capitol. Likewise the procedures used in the electoral assemblies were less timeconsuming, thus allowing more people to vote in a single session.

Nevertheless, the overall level of participation remained low, and we may wonder what made a small section of the population take part in elections, while the large majority stayed away. The aim in this chapter is to investigate the nature of electoral participation and the different models which have been used to explain it. Our sources tend to convey the impression that elections were matters of general interest and concern among the Roman citizenry during the late republic. The sources, however, also reflect the views and preoccupations of the one group which was itself directly involved in office-holding and the exercise of power. The question is therefore whether these concerns were particular to this social group, or, in other words, whether the appointment of new magistrates attracted much attention outside the political class itself.