FEDERAL VOTERS LISTS IN WESTERN CANADA • 1935-1979 A Finding Aid Federal Voters Lists in Western Canada • 1935-1979 Compiled by Dave Obee A Finding Aid Federal Voters Lists in Western Canada • 1935-1979 Compiled by Dave Obee Victoria, B.C. National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Obee, Dave, 1953- Federal voters lists in Western Canada, 1935-1979 : a finding aid / compiled by Dave Obee. ISBN 0-9685026-7-9 1. Voting registers--Canada, Western--Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Canada, Western--Genealogy--Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title. JL193.O23 2003 324.6'4'09712 C2003-910594-6 First edition published April 2003 Special thanks to my editors, Laura Hanowski and Ann Leeson Copyright 2003 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 Western Canada • 1935-1979 Canadians went to the polls in federal elections 14 al voters list that was open to public scrutiny. times between 1935 and 1979. They elected six differ- The first federal list was actually put together in ent men as prime ministers and changed the party in 1934, when the federal government had a grand plan to power four times. They chose an ever-increasing num- compile a permanent list that could be kept current ber of Members of Parliament – from 245 MPs in 1935, through regular updates. After a couple of years the idea the number rose to 282 by 1979. was abandoned as unworkable, which meant an army of And, along the way, Canadians left millions of clues enumerators had to be hired to compile the list for the to entice future family historians. They are found in 1940 vote. (By 1979, that army of enumerators reached lists, compiled a few weeks before each election, of the 110,000 people.) people eligible to vote. Canada’s federal enumerators started work on the Like census returns and city directories, these voters 49th day before polling day, and had to be finished their lists have great value for genealogists. But there are polling divisions within six days. Two days after that, some important differences between the various the lists had to be turned over to the returning officer in resources. the correct order, which was geographic for urban polls Voters lists cover a much later time period than cen- and alphabetical for rural polls. sus returns. Many people who will not be found in cen- The requirement for quick work sets these lists apart sus returns for years – due to the government’s restric- from early census enumeration, which in many cases tions on access to the historic census records – are stretched over several weeks. In terms of getting a shown on voters lists that are already open for research. “snapshot” of the population at a certain point in time, Also, the voters lists are much more comprehensive the voters lists are often superior to the census returns. than commercial directories. They include people such The need for speed caused other problems, of course: as manual labourers and farmers, who were often not spelling was often incorrect; election legislation speci- included in directories, as well as many small towns and fied that a person could not be denied a vote because of rural areas that were never covered by directory pub- a spelling error in his or her name. lishers. The vast majority of the lists were typeset by local Voters lists present, therefore, a comprehensive snap- printing companies, so they are quite easy to read and shot of the population that will not be matched until the use. The appearance of the lists varied by region, but the census returns are opened for research. information contained was consistent. An entry on a voters list will confirm that a person For years, these completed lists were distributed to was not only alive, but living in a specific spot at a cer- the people on them, or posted in prominent locations in tain time. That information can lead to further research a community, such as on telephone poles and at the post in many sources, including local histories and newspa- office. People could then ensure they were on the list pers. and, of course, spy on their neighbours to a certain For the first 68 years after Confederation, the federal extent. They were also used by candidates and their government did not have its own lists of voters. It relied agents in their canvassing of neighbourhoods. on municipal or provincial lists for federal elections. The government’s distinction between urban enu- That changed in 1935, with the introduction of a feder- meration and rural enumeration resulted in differences Page 1 Federal Voters Lists in Western Canada • 1935-1979 Enumerators in rural areas, such as this one in Saskatchewan, listed names in alphabetical order between the lists. In urban areas, two enumerators – one office address. from each of the two top political parties in the previous It’s basic information, but it could contain important election – worked together, trying to compile lists as clues to advance a research project. accurate and comprehensive as possible. Urban resi- Women had the right to vote by 1935, so they appear dents whose names were not included in the final list, in all of these lists. In 1935, they were shown as either which closed 17 days before the election, were not eli- “Miss” or “Mrs.”; men did not have a “Mr.” To ensure gible to cast ballots. there was no doubt about the gender involved, women Rural areas were covered by a lone enumerator. If a also had a “(W)” beside their names. The redundant rural resident was missed, it was not a great concern; (W) was dropped from the lists in 1940 and later. anyone not on the list could still cast a ballot as long as Other than that, the information contained and the someone who was on the list vouched for them. As a basic format remained constant for 13 of the 14 lists result, it was not essential for the rural enumerator to be covered in this guide. The major change came with the as thorough as the enumerators in the urban areas. 1979 list, which does not include the occupation, and (That’s no consolation, of course, to family history includes far less identifying information regarding researchers half a century later.) addresses. The 1979 lists were typed rather than being All of the lists from 1935 through 1974 follow the typeset, as the earlier lists had been. The typing result- same basic format: The top of the first page of each ed in a certain amount of “bleed” through the pages, polling division has basic geographic information. making it harder to read the names. Urban districts are sorted by street name and number, Most of the federal voters lists were microfilmed in and information in the list includes street name, number, 1977, and are available through Interlibrary Loan from surname, given name and occupation. Rural districts the National Archives of Canada as part of record group have the names in alphabetical order; the information RG113. includes surname, given name, occupation and post The lists themselves may seem to be an insurmount- Page 2 Federal Voters Lists in Western Canada • 1935-1979 Enumerators in urban areas were required to list names in geographic order able challenge, because there has not been a logical way electoral districts. to attack the mountain of information they include. Using the lists requires a rudimentary understanding There is, after all, a lot of material to go through. The of electoral districts. voters lists for the 14 general elections take up 1,001 District boundaries are redrawn every few years to rolls of microfilm. A total of 239 of those rolls are for reflect our changing populations. The 14 lists covered in Western Canada. (Plus 18 more rolls for byelections, this guide can be divided into five basic groups, based the extra elections called as a result of the deaths or res- on the four changes in boundaries that occurred ignations of sitting MPs.) between 1935 and 1979. The microfilmed lists are divided into provinces, These groups are: 1935-1940-1945; 1949; 1953- then federal electoral districts (also known as ridings or 1957-1958-1962-1963-1965; 1968-1972-1974; 1979. constituencies) in alphabetical order, then polling divi- In other words, an address will be in the same electoral sions within those constituencies. district for the six elections from 1953 through 1965, Some pages were missed or poorly exposed in the but there is no guarantee it will be the same for 1949 or filming, so corrections were taken, then spliced on to 1968. the start of the appropriate reel. It pays to bear that in Electoral district boundaries are often obvious; for mind while using the films. Always check these correc- example, the Alberta city of Red Deer has been in the tions, in case they include the pages of interest. federal electoral district of Red Deer since 1907. It gets Beyond that, quality varies. Some lists from the early harder to determine electoral district boundaries in large elections are missing, sometimes for the entire electoral cities, where there might be five or six, and in rural district. areas which could fall into any one of two, three or four The 1979 films contain a notice to electors for each districts. poll, which is of little value to genealogists, but effec- Also, boundaries had to be drawn to ensure that the tively doubles the number of films required to cover the ridings in each province had roughly the same number Page 3 Federal Voters Lists in Western Canada • 1935-1979 of people.