 |
| Vox Efx, https://www.flickr.com/photos/vox_efx/3002776434/sizes/l |
Today many of us will vote. Some
of us may all ready have voted via early voting, mail in voting, etc.
Voter records have often been important to our genealogical research. They tell us something about our ancestors
that we will not find out via any other records. They give us some insight into what they were
thinking and the issues relevant to their lives.
For example, in NC, I frequently research historic voter records, the extant
voter registrations of 1867
The
Reconstruction Acts of 1867 implemented regulations regarding voter registration;
all freed individuals were allowed to vote along with white persons who took
extended oaths.
... or the 1902-1908 Permanent Registration of Voters
the North Carolina
... or extant county election records.
Sometimes election records are one of the few places I’ll find someone’s
19th century relative.
I can also look to see if living people are registered to vote, including myself, as NC has a NC Public Voter Search. Since the listed elections only seem to go back to 2004, this database might help you find someone living who you want to contact about DNA testing and they won’t be of too much help otherwise though future family historians will probably be fascinated by them!
Many of us, just as our ancestors did (though don’t go looking for woman until 1919 and a large number of our citizens until the removal of many discriminatory barriers to voting removed by the Voting Rights Act of 1965), vote as a way to express our opinions on governance and other issues.
As many vote today, consider whether you have researched voting records for your ancestors. If not, you might be
missing out on some neat information.
Editor’s
Note: Past posts about Election Day on Upfront with NGS ...
+ (2010), Past
Election Days
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
copyright ©
National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington,
Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NGS does not
imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this
blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily
reflect the view of NGS.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Republication
of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for
non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a
note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written
permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles
for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission
to [email protected]. All
republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the
copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Think your
friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post
interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with
NGS posts or subscribe!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Suggestions
for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please
send any suggested topics to [email protected]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unless
indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by
Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Want to
learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with
Upfront with NGS Blog posts!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No comments:
Post a Comment