Electoral Register Question

[SS1857]

I have been on Ancestry looking at the Glasgow Electoral Registers. My family moved to a new home in Springboig around 1945/1946. However my Grandparents are still registered in the previous home in 1948.

Could someone provide some background to the Registers back then?

Thanks in advance.

[Forfarian]

Could someone provide some background to the Registers back then?

Everyone eligible to vote has to fill in a form every year. This information is then collated to make up the register of electors.

The form usually comes out in the late summer/early autumn and there was a closing date, so any forms returned too late would not be included.

I have in my possession a copy of the register in force in my own area from 16 February 1992 to 15 February 1993. The qualifying date was 10 October 1991.

I don't know what the qualifying dates would have been in the 1940s, but someone listed in, for example, the 1947/1948 register of electors could be listed under a previous address if they moved late in 1946, after the qualifying date.

The way to deal with this is to check a run of several consecutive years' registers, and note when any change occurred. This should constrain the date when people moved.

[SS1857]

Thank you for that!