Voting in America—A Genealogical Perspective

With such an important election upon us, and with all of us who are of age and citizens of the U.S. entitled to vote, this seems to be an opportune time to look back at how our ancestors may have viewed elections. We know, of course, that many of our ancestors came from places where there were no national elections. Kings, queens, czars, and czarinas either inherited or took their positions without input from local citizens. When elections were held, they may have been symbolic only, and voting was often limited to certain groups of eligible men. Democracy was not something most of our ancestors knew in their homelands.

If your ancestors arrived in North America in Colonial times, voting was “restricted to those who owned property and paid taxes,” as those were traits that showed they were “committed members of the community and were sufficiently independent to vote.” Also, of the original thirteen colonies, nine had restrictions on Catholics and Jews voting. (“Winning the Vote: A History of Voting Rights,” see below.)

After the American Revolution, voting was a free-for-all among the states. Some states eliminated property restrictions and replaced them with tax paying. Other states allowed anyone who had served in the army or in a militia to vote. Because the new country was already divided into states that supported slavery and those who did not, the Constitution left most voting rights to the states. By 1790, all had removed religious restrictions, and by the early 1800s, you no longer had to be a landowner to vote in most states.

During the next century, voting rights broadened a bit and some states, especially in the Midwest, allowed immigrant males to vote. The Fifteenth Amendment, passed after the Civil War, said that race or former servitude could not be a reason to deny a man the right to vote. However, many Southern states enacted laws, such as poll taxes and proof of literacy, meant to keep African American men from voting. Those who tried to vote were often met with hostility, violence, and intimidation.

In the U.S., Wyoming and Utah allowed women to vote in 1869 and 1870 respectively. They were followed by Idaho and Colorado in the mid-1890s, and some states did allow women to vote in local elections. However, the ability of all citizens to vote regardless of gender was a hard-fought battle that didn’t really begin in earnest until World War I. With thousands of men called into the military and subsequently wounded or killed, followed by a worldwide influenza outbreak, the intelligence and skill sets of women were finally recognized globally. Our Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920, and women nationwide finally had the right to cast a ballot. Four years later, Native Americans received the same right, although some states continued to bar them from voting. (Advertising poster from St. Louis, Missouri, 1920, public domain, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22A_Woman_Living_Here_Has_Registered_to_Vote%22_1920_sign_from_St._Louis,_Missouri.jpg)

In the South, laws continued to impede the right to vote for all citizens. Not only were poll taxes and literacy tests still in place, but there were also English language requirements and a variety of intimidation tactics used to keep Black Americans from voting. After decades of marches and protests, the Twenty-Fourth Amendment forbidding poll taxes was passed in 1964, and Congress passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965, which directed states to change their election laws to remove voting barriers. In 1971, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment gave the right to vote to anyone over the age of eighteen. Voting laws have continued to be updated making it easier for people with disabilities or those whose first language is not English to be able to vote without obstacles.

Voting and Genealogy

As family historians, we always want to learn about the historical context in which our ancestors lived, and knowing how they had to fight for their rights enhances our understanding of their lives. If you haven't already discovered the value of voter registration records, you might want to take a look at what is available. You may discover information you didn't already know, such as birth places, addresses, citizenship status, and others of voting age living in the same household. A great place to start looking for these records, which are kept at local levels, is the Wiki on the FamilySearch website, which has links to every state. See below for the Wiki URL as well as some other sites you may want to check out.

When your ancestors arrived here, where they lived, and what their ethnicity might have been probably determined whether they enjoyed the right to vote. If they were white Anglo-Saxon males, they likely voted frequently. If they were enslaved, female, people of color, or non-English speaking, their ability to vote may have taken them down a much bumpier road. If you haven’t yet decided to vote in this election, you might think about the walls over which many of our ancestors had to climb to win this right. If you have already voted or are about to, this is a great time to thank our ancestors for giving us the opportunity to choose who governs us. 

Additional Resources

"United States Voting Records," FamilySearch Wiki, FamilySearch, 20 March 2024, https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/United_States_Voting_Records

"Using Voting Records in Family History Research," YouTube video by American Ancestors, https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=pSG2BRPuRs4

"Voter Registration: Another Useful Tool for Your Genealogy Toolbox," by LegacyTree Genealogists, October 2024, https://www.legacytree.com/blog/voter-registration

“Voting Rights: A Short History,” by the Carnegie Corporation of N.Y., 18 November 2019, https://www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/voting-rights-timeline/

“Voting Rights Milestones in America: A Timeline,” by Lesley Kennedy, History.com, originally published 19 April 2021, updated 15 August 2023, https://www.history.com/news/voting-rights-timeline

“Voting Rights Throughout United States History,” National Geographic, 30 October 2024, https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/voting-rights-throughout-history/

“Winning the Vote: A History of Voting Rights,” by Steven Mintz, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/winning-vote-history-voting-rights