The transfer of powers to authorities and officeholders on the basis of formalized voting procedures was known and practiced from Antiquity. In the Late Middle Ages and the first centuries of the early modern period, a plethora of different processes came under the category of electio. The concept also included cooption, acclamation, and selection by lot (see below, 2.) [9]; [7]. In general, entitlement to vote was confined to a socially exclusive group, and eve…