When you go to vote this Election Day, whether you lean to donkeys or elephants, you'll assume certain things: The ballot will be prepared by election officials, you'll select candidates to vote for by a mark or punch or pulled lever, and your ballot will be secret. But these practices — not to mention voting technology — would surprise most of our ancestors. The first election fitting those three criteria was only 150 years ago, in Australia. And this “Australian ballot” didn't make its way into a US election until 30 years after that.

The world's first votes were cast long before, of course, as early as 508 BC in ancient Athens. But Athenian “democracy” — from the Greek for “the people rule” — resembled New England town meetings more than modern elections. Officials were chosen by lottery, and voting was negative: Politicians' names were inscribed on pieces of broken pots — ostrakas, the root of our word ostracize — and if any received more than 6,000 votes, the “winner” was exiled for 10 years.