What are poll books and where can I find my nearest published election record?
Poll books are a published record of those people who voted in county elections along with details of which candidate or candidates they had voted for. They were introduced in 1696 and ceased after secret balloting was introduced by the Act of 1872.
Several libraries in North Yorkshire store poll books, along with the County Record Office in Northallerton. A full list of the poll books we store can be found below, listed by date. The listings in poll books are usually by parish. Before universal suffrage was introduced in 1928 the franchise was based on land or property ownership, so poll books only list those who fall into this class. | Date | Poll book | Location |
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| 1727 | Yorkshire | North Yorkshire County Record Office | | 1734 | Yorkshire | North Yorkshire County Record Office | | 1741 | West Riding election | Harrogate library | | 1741-2 | Yorkshire | Northallerton library (reprint), Selby library and Skipton library | | 1742 | Malton, Norton and surrounding villages | Malton library (a photocopy from the Yorkshire Poll Book) | | 1801 | West Riding election | Harrogate library | | 1807 | Malton, Norton and surrounding villages | Malton library (a photocopy from the Yorkshire Poll Book) | | 1807 | Yorkshire | Harrogate library, Northallerton library, Pickering library, Scarborough library and North Yorkshire County Record Office | | 1832 | Scarborough Borough Constituency - list of persons entitled to vote in the election of Members for the Borough of Scarborough | Scarborough library | | 1835 | North Riding election | North Yorkshire County Record Office | | 1835 | West Riding election | Harrogate library and Selby library | | 1836-7 | Burgess roll of the Borough of Scarborough | Scarborough library | | 1837 | West Riding election | Harrogate library and Skipton library | | 1841 | West Riding election | Harrogate library | | 1848 | West Riding election | Harrogate library | | 1852 | Scarborough Borough Constituency - list of voters for the Borough of Scarborough | Scarborough library | | 1859 | Scarborough Borough Constituency - list of voters in Falsgrave and Scarborough | Scarborough library | | 1867 | Scarborough Borough Constituency | Scarborough library | | 1868 | Leeds Borough Constituency | Harrogate library | | 1868 | Scarborough Parliamentary election - a list of the electors | Scarborough library | | 1869-70 | Burgess list of the Borough of Scarborough | Scarborough library | | 1885-86 | Skipton Division register of voters | Skipton library | | 1893-94 | Borough of Scarborough - number of Parliamentary voters | Scarborough library |
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