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Although it is widely believed that group decisions must always have?been rendered through the counting of votes, vote-counting was not?always the primary way in which political bodies, even democratic?groups, decided upon actions. Acclamatory systems predated the use?of formal voting processes, and, strikingly, endured long past the?introduction of mechanisms both of estimating and of aggregating?votes. Why did the Greeks preserve acclamatory procedures, and?under what circumstances does aggregation seem to have emerged??Through analyzing the various circumstances in which acclamation?and aggregation were used in ancient Greece, I argue that?vote-counting originated in cases in which individuals' faculties?of judgment were considered to be of superior quality or of special?importance. I hope to demonstrate that mechanisms of counting?emerged as a means of reducing the risk of error in political bodies.? ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]