Poll Books and the Reading Public

Why were poll books printed, and how were they used? [10-minute read] Poll books display huge variation in their form and format. Of the surviving poll books from the period 1695–1830, half are handwritten manuscripts, and were typically either compiled by clerks (or some other official) at the time of voting, or subsequently copied. The […]

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Bribery

Although technically illegal, bribery was rife in eighteenth-century elections. [15-minute read] Technically, the Corrupt Practices Act of 1695 and the Bribery Act of 1729 made bribery illegal, but it remained endemic to the electoral process. Votes could often be bought, and, with no secret ballot, a candidate or his agents could check that individuals had […]

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