Editing Election (section)

==History==
{{see also|History of democracy}}
[[File:Roman Election.jpg|thumb|left|[[Roman coin]] depicting election]]
[[File: Cardiganshire Election ballot paper 1880.jpg|thumb|A British election campaign leaflet with an illustration of an example ballot paper, 1880]]
Elections were used as early in history as [[ancient Greece]] and [[ancient Rome]], and throughout the [[Middle Ages|Medieval period]] to select rulers such as the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] (see [[imperial election]]) and the [[pope]] (see [[papal election]]).<ref name="Brit">[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/182308/election "Election (political science)"]. ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 August 2009</ref>

The [[Pala Empire|Pala]] King [[Gopala (Pala king)|Gopala]] (ruled {{Circa|750s}}&nbsp;– 770s CE) in early medieval [[Bengal]] was elected by a group of feudal chieftains. Such elections were quite common in contemporary societies of the region.<ref name="Nitish2011">{{cite book | author=Nitish K. Sengupta | title=Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kVSh_TyJ0YoC&pg=PA40 | date= 2011 | publisher=Penguin Books India | isbn=978-0-14-341678-4 | chapter = The Imperial Palas | pages=39–49 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | author=Biplab Dasgupta | title=European Trade and Colonial Conquest | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YRRnRK8lEYEC&pg=PA341 | date=2005 | publisher=Anthem Press | isbn=978-1-84331-029-7 | pages=341–}}</ref> In the [[Chola Empire]], around 920 CE, in [[Uthiramerur]] (in present-day [[Tamil Nadu]]), palm leaves were used for selecting the village committee members. The leaves, with candidate names written on them, were put inside a mud pot. To select the committee members, a young boy was asked to take out as many leaves as the number of positions available. This was known as the ''Kudavolai'' system.<ref name="VKA_2010">{{cite book |title=Indian History |editor=VK Agnihotri |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MazdaWXQFuQC&pg=SL2-PA62 |publisher=Allied |isbn=978-81-8424-568-4 |year=2010 |edition=26th |pages=B-62–B-65 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://tnsec.tn.nic.in/historical/Pre%20Independence.html|title=Pre-Independence Method of Election |publisher=Tamil Nadu State Election Commission, India |access-date=3 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111029004115/http://tnsec.tn.nic.in/historical/Pre%20Independence.html|archive-date=29 October 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The first recorded popular elections of officials to public office, by majority vote, where all citizens were eligible both to vote and to hold public office, date back to the [[Ephors]] of [[Sparta]] in 754 BC, under the [[mixed government]] of the [[Spartan Constitution]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/ephor|title = Ephor &#124; Spartan magistrate |website = [[Encyclopedia Britannica]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | author=Herodotus | title=The Histories | url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2707/2707-h/2707-h.htm | publisher=Project Gutenberg}}</ref> [[Athenian]] democratic elections, where all citizens could hold public office, were not introduced for another 247 years, until the reforms of [[Cleisthenes]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-greece/ancient-greece-democracy|title=Ancient Greek Democracy |date=5 June 2023|website=[[History Channel]] }}</ref> Under the earlier [[Solonian Constitution]] ({{Circa|574 BC}}), all Athenian citizens were eligible to vote in the popular assemblies, on matters of law and policy, and as jurors, but only the three highest classes of citizens could vote in elections. Nor were the lowest of the four classes of Athenian citizens (as defined by the extent of their wealth and property, rather than by birth) eligible to hold public office, through the reforms of [[Solon]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://agathe.gr/democracy/solon_the_lawgiver.html|title = Birth of Democracy: Solon the Lawgiver |website = Agathe.gr}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | author=Aristotle | title=The Constitution of Athens | url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26095/26095-h/26095-h.htm#part08 | publisher=Project Gutenberg}}</ref> The Spartan election of the Ephors, therefore, also predates the reforms of Solon in Athens by approximately 180 years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Solon|title = Solon &#124; Biography, Reforms, Importance, & Facts| date=9 November 2023 | website=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] }}</ref>

[[File:Election of Paasikivi.jpg|thumb|In 1946 [[Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim|Mannerheim]] resigned as president of Finland, and the [[parliament of Finland]] [[1946 Finnish presidential election|elected]] elected prime minister [[J. K. Paasikivi|Paasikivi]] to succeed him, with 159 votes.]]
Questions of [[suffrage]], especially suffrage for minority groups, have dominated the history of elections. Males, the dominant cultural group in North America and Europe, often dominated the [[wikt:electorate|electorate]] and continue to do so in many countries.<ref name = Brit/> Early elections in countries such as the [[Elections in the United Kingdom|United Kingdom]] and [[Elections in the United States|the United States]] were dominated by [[landed gentry|landed]] or [[ruling class]] males.<ref name = Brit/> By 1920 all Western European and North American democracies had universal adult male suffrage (except Switzerland) and many countries began to consider [[women's suffrage]].<ref name = Brit/> Despite legally mandated universal suffrage for adult males, political barriers were sometimes erected to prevent fair access to elections (see [[civil rights movement]]).<ref name = Brit/>