Rhode Island Voting Records

Voting Rights History

 * By 1856: Universal white male suffrage
 * 1870: The 15th Amendment is passed and prohibits restricting suffrage based on race
 * 1917: Women are given the right to vote

What Can be Found in the Records
For more information about how Voter Records can help your genealogical research see United States Voting Records. Voting records often contain:
 * Name
 * Birth place
 * Residence
 * Years living in city, county, state
 * Whether naturalized, date, court

How to Find Voter Records
Most voter records were kept on the county level (for New England states this should be town level). To see what FamilySearch has for your county (town) of research follow these steps:
 * Go to the FamilySearch Catalog and in the place field type in Rhode Island
 * Go to United States, Rhode Island
 * Once there, click on "Places within United States, Rhode Island"
 * Select the county that contains your town of interest
 * Once there, click on "Places within United States, Rhode Island, county that contains your town"
 * Select your town of interest
 * If FamilySearch has voter records for your county, they will be under "Voting Registers"