Elections were used as early in history as ancient Greece and ancient Rome, and throughout the Medieval period to select rulers such as the Holy Roman Emperor and the pope. 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 Sparta in 754 B.C. American Founders looked back to classical precedent as well as to British law in forming their own election systems. Please join Colonial Williamsburg interpreter Cash Arehart to learn about elections in 18th-century Virginia and how they compare to our elections today HERE.