In March 2023, our library uploaded a substantial collection of DuPage Township election records to the Internet Archive. This treasure trove of local poll books and election rolls dates from 1914 to 1951 and was found in the Bolingbrook Historic Preservation Commission archive. This collection has filled another gap in record availability in our area, notably for records pertaining to local issues such as temperance and abolishing poll taxes. These early rolls mark the beginning of female enfranchisement, as Illinois gained the right to vote on June 26, 1913. Illinois was the first state east of the Mississippi River to make way for women voters. However, its role as a suffrage trailblazer is diminished a bit as the state’s suffrage barred women from voting for police magistrates. President, yes. Police magistrate, no. A demonstration of weird logic.
Connecting patrons to this collection of records has been very rewarding. And I thought we would move along to other digitization projects. There’s always something interesting in the Bolingbrook Historic Preservation archives, so the commissioners and I were busy making new plans for future projects when we fielded a call from DuPage Township. In May 2023, while conducting a survey of their storage areas, township staff found three boxes of potential archival records. One of the boxes includes election poll books dating from just after the Civil War, as well as voter affidavits from the 1870s to the 1930s and bounty records for hedgehogs and sparrows. Bounties of 25 cents were made for each animal slain. Also included were work and reimbursement records pertaining to the early roads and bridge systems from the 1890s-1920s.
Yes! More voter records!
Minolta DSC
When researching our state’s poll books, you should review the laws and statutes outlining the eligibility and voting process. These laws can change over time, so ensure you are checking for legal statutes by their publishing date. Let’s review voting laws on the books for Illinois in 1865, which correspond to our earliest poll books, which date from October 1865.
You’ll want to clarify the following:
- When do elections take place? (day and month)
- Who is eligible to vote in the election?
- What is the logistical process to cast, judge and record votes?
- What voter information is required to be recorded?
- How many copies of records and votes are kept?
- Where are voting records stored after the election?
- Are there any rules pertaining to election integrity?
We also want to keep in mind that changes in federal law will impact local voting. Our perusal of state election laws will include references to the country’s Fifteenth Amendment, which stated the right to vote was not to be abridged on account of racial identity.
So, let’s put ourselves in the shoes of a relatively new DuPage Township male voter. The state statutes include examples of voter affidavits, one being a “person offering to vote whose name is not on the corrected register” and another for men performing military service. We can see an example of how one affidavit provides age, residency requirements and how many witnesses are needed to be approved to cast a ballot. Poll taxes, which have been levied state-wide sporadically through Illinois history, are not mentioned. Where we do not see women explicitly barred from voting based on the language of the affidavits, the term ‘he’ or ‘him’ gives us a subtle nudge that women would have to wait nearly 50 additional years to cast their ballots.
We can also read about how poll lists were kept during elections for the two poll books for 1865.
How about limitations? Contrary to what you may have been told by tour guides or seen in a movie or on TV, the state of Illinois forbade the presence of alcohol in and around the ballot box, and at the same time, drinking establishments were ordered to close for election day. How strictly this was enforced would require additional research.
There is no mention of election cake being banned from local polling places. Election cakes were baked by local women to increase election participation and provide refreshments for lengthy travel times to the polls. Here is one example of an 1832 recipe for election cake from The Frugal Housewife by Lydia Maria Child. Be on the lookout for these recipes in older cookbooks, as traditional family election cakes may have been published in books much later in the century.
Interested in seeing more early DuPage Township records? Our library has cultivated a rich collection of teacher register books and financial ledgers from one-room schoolhouses. We also have a growing number of digitized books and records that are perfect for your local history research. Want to learn more about our archived digital collections for an organizational meeting or scouting badge? We would love to share all these resources with you! Please email ddudek@fountaindale.org to set up a meeting or appointment.
See You At The Library,
Debra