Decisions were made by voting without any time set aside for deliberation. Nothing, however, stopped jurors from talking informally among themselves during the voting procedure and juries could be unruly, shouting out their disapproval or disbelief of things said by the litigants. This may have had some role in building a consensus. The voting procedure was public and transparent. Each heliast had received two votes, one "not guilty" and one "guilty". Then the herald (κήρυξ) would, first, ask the heliasts if they wanted to submit any objections against the witnesses and, then, he would call them to cast their votes in two different amphoras, one of copper for the "non-guilty" votes and one of wood for the "guilty" votes. The voting was secret, since each juror had to cover the vote with his fingers, so that nobody could see in which amphora he threw it. In the civil cases the voting procedure was different, because the amphoras were as many as the litigant parties and the jurors had to vindicate one of them by casting their vote.