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Record Group Number: 800000
Series/Collection Number: .L 649
Creator: Leon County (Fla.). Supervisor of Elections.
Title, Dates: Voter registration books, 1889-1946.
Amount: 239 v.
.25 cubic ft.
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement: Numerical by precinct number, then by assigned volume number.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use: RESTRICTED: FRAGILE. Use only under supervision of Archives staff. If searching for a particular individual, first refer to the typed index in Box 24 for the appropriate precinct number.
Biographical/Historical:     In 1887, the Florida Legislature passed a law requiring the registration of all eligible voters in each county, defining "eligible voters" as every male U.S. citizen aged 21 years and up who had lived in Florida for at least one year and in the county for six months (Chapter 3704, Laws of Florida). That law also established the process of keeping registration books, maintained by the district registration officers and each county's Supervisor of Registration, to keep track of electors and their payment of poll taxes. The title of Supervisor of Registration changed to Supervisor of Elections in 1965.

    Each county precinct, or district, received three registration books that were to correspond exactly, one of which was marked as the "office copy" and kept by the Supervisor of Registration after the period of registration closed. The Supervisor of Registration was then responsible for certifying the correctness of the information and for alphabetizing the names of electors.

Summary:     This series contains the voter registration books for registered electors (voters) for precincts 1 through 21 in Leon County, Florida. Although there are several copies for each district with the same dates, the names in each are slightly different; registration officers re-wrote the names of electors from one book to the next until they no longer resided in that district, in which case the names were removed with a strikethrough. For each elector, the books provide name, age, color, occupation, personal description (height), residence, date of registration, an indication that poll tax was paid (until abolished in 1937, Chapter 18061, Laws), and registration certificate number. Some of the later books indicate party affiliation and freeholder status. The date ranges for each volume indicate the dates of registration for the individuals listed within.

    Between 1965 and 1971, an unidentified group assigned volume numbers to the books and created typed indexes of names in most of the registration books from 1889 to 1929. These indexes are filed with each corresponding volume. A master list is in Box 24, which provides the name and precinct number(s) of each individual.

Finding Aids: Volume listing available. 0
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Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields: Leon County (Fla.). Supervisor of Elections.
Elections Florida
Elections Florida  --Leon County
Poll tax Florida.
Voter registration Florida
Voters' lists. aat
Leon County (Fla.)
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