California Voter Registrations 1900-1968

Ancestry.com’s “California, Voter Registrations, 1900-1968” was recently updated according to their site. It’s a great database for those with relatives who lived in California during this time period. A few general caveats about this database:

• it may not be completely extant for the 1900-1968 time period for all California counties–check the inventory listing to see what years are available for specific counties.
• the index was created by an automated process–largely because the original records are mostly typed or printed. There can be “names” in the database that are unusual and locating names of interest may require manual searches.

The Fechts suggest a household

The 1948 registration list for Los Angeles County Precinct 2762 indicated four individuals with the last name of Fecht living at 11005 Hesby Street. All were registered Republicans. The relationships among the individuals are not given in the directory, but other records indicate that Henry and Mrs. Catherine are husband and wife and that Miss Gloria and James H. are their children. The registration list does provide evidence that the entire Fecht family had moved to Los Angeles by 1948 and that they were living in the same household. As World War II started the family was still living in Chicago. Had I not known the Fechts were related, the discovery of all four of them in one household would have been very suggestive of a relationship among them.

Automatic Reading Make Unusual Results

Creating the index to these records by having the images read by machine saves time. The algorithm is programmed to harvest names (I’m assuming) based on the general structure of the records and the way in which they are formatted. Such indexes are not perfect. We will not discuss their merits here, but users are reminded to be aware of the potential for errors in such finding aids and to use the index entry as a means to the original printed registration record. The 376 results (obtained on 21 May 2017) for the last name of “fitter” serve to illustrate. 

Tracking Migrations and Movements

These records can be used to track movements for those people who were somewhat migratory. It should be noted that while some of the information provided in these records parallels data found in city directories, these records are not the same as city directories. They were created for an entirely different purpose.

Political affiliations are usually given, providing a little detail about your relative’s life that may not be available in other records.

There is no guarantee that your relative voted in any particular election just because they were registered. Registration lists are just that–registrations. As with any record think about what it says and what it does not say.