Federal Voters Lists in Ontario • 1935-1979
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A Finding Aid Federal Voters Lists in Ontario • 1935-1979 Compiled by Dave Obee A Finding Aid Federal Voters Lists in Ontario • 1935-1979 Compiled by Dave Obee Victoria, B.C. National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Obee, Dave, 1953- Federal voters lists in Ontario, 1935-1979 : a finding aid / compiled by Dave Obee. ISBN 0-9735143-0-2 1. Voting registers--Ontario--Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Ontario-- Genealogy--Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title. JL193.O237 2004 929'.3713 C2004-901651-2 First edition published April 2004 Cover illustration by Rob Struthers Edited by Sarah Obee Copyright 2004 David Brian Obee Published by Dave Obee 4687 Falaise Drive, Victoria, B.C. V8Y 1B4 No portion of this book, with the exception of brief extracts for the purpose of literary review, may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the publisher. Federal Voters Lists in Ontario • 1935-1979 When Canadians went to the polls on October 14, The coverage of the voters lists is much more exten- 1935, a total of 2,174,188 Ontario residents were eligi- sive than that of commercial directories, because the ble to cast ballots. Their names were recorded on voters goal was to include every eligible adult in the district. lists – the very first voters lists put together by the fed- Directories usually did not cover small towns and rural eral government. areas, and often didn’t bother to mention manual New voters lists were compiled before every subse- labourers or farmers. quent federal election or byelection until 1997, when A voters list will also present a much more precise the system was scrapped. The lists from 1935 through snapshot of an area at a specific time than is possible 1979 – representing fourteen general elections and with a directory or a census. That’s because enumera- many more byelections – are available on microfilm tors had just six days to compile their lists of voters in through the National Archives of Canada. each polling district. By comparison, some census enu- These lists, which include the names, addresses and merations dragged on for weeks, and it’s often hard to occupations of everyone registered to vote, represent determine even the month in which a directory was one of the most important sources of twentieth-century compiled. information available to genealogical researchers. One thing all three sources have in common is inac- It takes 10 microfilm rolls to include all of the voters curacy – spellings of names cannot be trusted in voters in Ontario in 1935. The years that followed saw a steady lists any more than they can be trusted in directories or increase in both the number of voters listed and the census returns. Legislators recognized that some names number of microfilm rolls needed to record them all. By on voters lists weren’t spelled correctly, so made it a 1979, the Ontario lists filled 57 rolls with 5,328,123 rule that a person could not be barred from voting just voters’ names. because his or her name was wrong on the list. The old voters lists are an indication of the change in The federal government did not have its own lists of our thinking about privacy. For years, the lists were dis- voters for the first 68 years after Confederation, relying tributed to the people on them, or posted in prominent instead on municipal or provincial lists. That changed in locations in a community, such as on telephone poles 1935, with the introduction of a federal voters list that and at the post office. People could then ensure they was open to public scrutiny. were on the list and, of course, spy on their neighbours. The first federal list was actually put together in The lists were also used by candidates and their agents 1934, when the government had a grand plan to com- in canvassing neighbourhoods. pile a permanent list that could be kept current through In many ways, voters lists are similar to two other regular updates. After a couple of years the idea was important resources, census returns and directories. But abandoned as unworkable, which meant an army of there are important differences as well. The information enumerators had to be hired to compile a new list for the found on a voters list is similar to what is found in a 1940 vote, and again for each one after that. directory, but much less than what is found on a census Canada’s federal enumerators started work on the return. The voters lists from the middle of the twentieth forty-ninth day before polling day, and had to be fin- century are, however, already available – and the census ished their divisions within six days of starting. Two returns may never be opened for researchers to use. days after that, the lists had to be turned over to the Page 1 Federal Voters Lists in Ontario • 1935-1979 In rural areas, names were in alphabetical order National Archives of Canada M4744 returning officer in the correct order, which was geo- graphic information. Urban districts are sorted by street graphic for urban polls and alphabetical for rural polls. name and house number, and information in the list The government’s distinction between urban enu- includes street name, house number, surname, given meration and rural enumeration resulted in differences name and occupation. For the rural districts, with the between the lists. In urban areas, two enumerators – one names in alphabetical order, the lists show surname, from each of the two top political parties in the previous given name, occupation and post office address. election – worked together, trying to compile lists as The major change in format after the 1935 list had to accurate and comprehensive as possible. Urban resi- do with the way women were shown. In 1935, they dents whose names were not included in the final list, were shown as either “Miss” or “Mrs.”; men did not which closed seventeen days before the election, were have a “Mr.” To ensure there was no doubt about the not eligible to cast ballots. gender involved, women also had a “(W)” beside their Rural areas were covered by a lone enumerator. If a names. The redundant “(W)” was dropped from the lists rural resident was missed, it was not a great concern; in 1940. anyone not on the list could still cast a ballot as long as Other than that, the information contained and the someone on the list vouched for them. As a result, it was basic format remained constant for thirteen of the four- not essential for the rural enumerator to be as thorough teen lists covered in this guide. The major change came as the enumerators in the urban areas. (In other words, with the 1979 list, which does not include the occupa- today’s family history researchers have a better chance tion, and includes far less identifying information of finding urban residents.) regarding addresses. The 1979 lists were typed rather The vast majority of the lists were typeset by local than typeset, as the vast majority of the earlier lists had printing companies, so they are quite easy to read and been. The typing often resulted in a “bleed” through use. The appearance of the lists, and even the size of the pages, making it harder to read the names. pages and the number of columns used, varied by The 1979 films contain a notice to electors for each region, but the information contained was consistent. poll. This is of little value to genealogists, but effective- The lists up to 1974 were supposed to follow the ly doubles the number of films required to cover the basic format established with the 1935 list: The top of electoral districts. the first page of each polling division has basic geo- Most of the federal voters lists were microfilmed in Page 2 Federal Voters Lists in Ontario • 1935-1979 In urban areas, names were listed in geographic order National Archives of Canada M4747 1977, and are available through interlibrary loan from graphic descriptions may help narrow the search. the National Archives of Canada as part of record group The microfilmed lists for Ontario have the electoral RG113. districts in alphabetical order, with the districts for The lists themselves may seem to be an insurmount- Metro Toronto following the ones for the rest of the able challenge, because there is a lot of material to go province. through. The voters lists for the fourteen general elec- The names of the electoral districts may be deceiving tions and the byelections – the extra elections called as at times, because they were not used consistently on the a result of the deaths or resignations of sitting Members voters lists themselves. The district of Kenora-Rainy of Parliament – take up almost 300 microfilms for River was sometimes listed as Rainy River, for exam- Ontario alone. (More than 1,000 are needed to cover all ple. Carleton was sometimes shown as Ottawa. Grey of Canada.) North was sometimes listed as North Grey, and so on. Voters lists, like census returns, need to be tackled on And at times, a list does not show the name of the elec- a geographic basis. The lists are grouped by province, toral district at all. then by electoral district, then by polling division. The districts were hardly constant from 1935 through The first step in using the lists for Ontario is to deter- 1979 – their boundaries were regularly redrawn, and the mine which electoral district – also known as riding or number of districts was increased in response to the constituency – to search.