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There have been many elective monarchies in history, but the monarch in those systems was chosen by an elite such as nobles or cardinals in the case of the Vatican. Poland-Lithuania had an unusually high amount of its population classified as nobility when it had an elective monarchy, but that's not what I'm looking for, as they were just an unusually large elite rather than representative of the people as a whole.
How might a system develop where the common rabble can vote for their own monarch, and where do you think a monarch could have deigned to take a "crown from the gutter"?
This may be in Before 1900, but you can use any POD you want for the sake of the challenge. The monarchs can be absolute, a figurehead, or anything in between, so long as they have a crown and an ermine cape.