The Ayes Have It - Discovering Your Ancestors Through Voting Records

In 1870, 155 years ago, the 15th Amendment was passed prohibiting the exclusion of citizens from voting based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. In 1920, just 105 years ago, the 19th Amendment was passed granting women the right to vote. And, in 1965, 60 years ago, the Voting Rights Act was passed prohibiting racial discrimination in voting. Each of these pieces of legislation increased the opportunity of US citizens to exercise their right to vote. Voting records are not one of the record sets that you usually think of for your genealogy research but since they are collected on a regular basis they can be used to replace the 1890 US Census or fill in details between censuses. These records may contain information that can help you discover naturalization, land, migration, and death records, as well as family relationships, property ownership, or provide evidence of criminal convictions or mental states of your ancestors.