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This article explores the functional and conceptual ties between random draw and voting in the election of magistrates in the Roman Republic (509-27 BCE). The Romans had, in fact, recourse to the sors (random draw) at all stages of the electoral procedure, whether it was to integrate electors into the voting bodies, to determine the voting order or to separate tied candidates. The hybrid character of Roman elections addressed requirements that were not only institutional and socio-political but also religious in nature, and expressed the collective references and principles of the Roman city. However, far from being a neutral procedure, the draw had concrete political impacts on electoral arithmetic and was a powerful tool in the politicization of the voting process.