Great Registers of Placer County

Finding aid created by Placer County Archives staff using RecordEXPRESS
Placer County Archives
101 Maple Street
Auburn, California 95603
(530) 889-7789
http://www.placer.ca.gov/museum
2020


Descriptive Summary

Title: Great Registers of Placer County
Dates: 1871 – 1952 non -inclusive
Collection Number: Various
Creator/Collector:
Extent: 7 Boxes
Repository: Placer County Archives
Auburn, California 95603
Abstract: The Placer County Archives maintains a collection of official Placer County Records regarding the lists of registered voters in Placer County.
Language of Material: English

Access

The Collection is open for research by appointment. Appointment times are available on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays from 9-3.

Preferred Citation

Great Registers of Placer County. Placer County Archives

Biography/Administrative History

The practice of registering voters before elections was established to prevent voter fraud. Placer County’s early history of elections are filled with tales of more votes being cast than there were citizens eligible to vote. Ballot boxes were often nailed to a tree and residents could vote any number of times. The Great Registers were an attempt to regulate the eligible voters in the County.

Scope and Content of Collection

The Placer County Great Registers contain the name of eligible voter, age, country of nativity, local residence, when and where naturalized and date registered. The early records encompass the whole county, later volumes are organized by precincts. Many contain extended information detailing; occupation, color of hair and eyes and complexion, the listing of marks or scars and their location, any physical disability, whether the registrant could read the U. S. Constitution in English, whether he could write his name and whether he could physically cast a ballot. Eligible voters were restricted to males over the age of 21 until women were given the right to vote in California in 1911.

Additional collection guides