Massachusetts Voting Records online consist of voter registration lists. Indexed collections will be the easiest to search; image-only collections will contain more information.

In the United States voting rights have always come with limitations. In the 1700s and early 1800s, voting rights were restricted primarily to white men who owned property and some states restricted voting rights even further.

During the 1800s voting rights restrictions were gradually reduced and voters didn’t need to own property and, after 1870, race was not a qualification to vote. Some states still restricted voting through poll taxes (a tax paid to vote which affected the less affluent), literacy tests, all-white primaries, and language requirements.

The 1900s saw the greatest expansion of voting rights including:

• rights were extended to women (1920)

• the Voting Rights Acts to prevent additional prohibitive voting laws (1965)

• poll taxes were banned in the U.S. by the Supreme Court (1966) 

• the right to vote for anyone 18 years old or older (1971)

• protection for language minorities (1975)

• protection for people with disabilities (1982)

• and simplified voter registration (1993).

Voting records may include:

• name

• physical description of person

• age

• gender

• registration date

• dates voted

• residence

• marital status

• property ownership

• occupation

• place of birth

• citizenship status, if naturalized, date, court

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KEY to collections

• FS=FamilySearch FREE but login with your free account to access
• Anc$=Ancestry – fee site
• MH=MyHeritage – fee site
• AG – AccessGenealogy
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• IA – Internet Archive
• RW – RootsWeb

Massachusetts Voting Records online at the City level

Andover – Voting Registers – List of Persons Qualified to Vote, 1841-1843, at FS

Ashby – Voting Registers – Lists of Voters, 1789-1838, at FS

Bolton – Voting Registers – Bolton (Massachusetts) Vital Records, 1864-1910, at FS

Boston – Voting Registers – Massachusetts, City of Boston Voter Registers, 1857-1920, at FS

Brookline – Voting Registers – Town of Brookline : List of Voters in the Town of Brookline Prepared by Registrars of Voters for Use at Elections, at FS

Hardwick – Voting Registers – [Bass & Company’s Directories for Massachusetts], at FS

Lexington – Voting Registers – Births, Marriages, Deaths, 1683-1844; Voters List, 1847, at FS

Lexington – Voting Registers – Town Records 1692-1861, Lexington, Massachusetts, at FS

Pelham – Voting Registers – Voter Lists for Pelham [Massachusetts], at FS

Plympton – Voting Registers – Lists of Voters, 1812-1853, at FS

Russell – Voting Registers – Town and Vital Records 1792-1864, Russell, Massachusetts, at FS

Wilmington – Voting Registers – Voters Lists, 1789-1838, 1885., at FS