I have been researching how Roman elections during the Roman Republic worked and I came across something I do not understand.
I've read that every year 20 Quaestors (at least after the reforms of Sulla) are elected. These are elected by the Tribal Assembly which consists of 35 tribes and which, in total, can cast 35 votes. I'm guessing the 20 electable Quaestors with the top 20 votes are elected.
However would this system not lead to a lot of Quaestors with an equal amount of votes?
Example: say the first 5 electable Quaestors cover 20 tribal votes. Now there are only 15 votes left and still we need to elect 15 Quaestors. So either they all get 1 vote or there are not enough votes for all 20 electable Quaestors.
Am I misunderstanding something here? Can anyone enlighten me about this?
So, I thought I knew the answer to this question, but the more of my sources I check the more I don't find anyone of them actually explaining the mechanics of this system. So now I'm no longer sure if my knowledge is based on something I read but can't remember where, or if it was just an assumption I made.
Someone else might be able to help, so you might want to ask the question again in today's election mega-thread. It might get more attention there.