Queensland State Electoral Roll 1915. 1915. <p>Printed electoral rolls were produced by Electoral Offices to assist in the management of elections. An electoral roll is a listing of all those residents eligible and registered to vote in a particular area.<br><br> The register assists in the voting process and helps to prevent electoral fraud. Electoral rolls may also be used by the authorities for other purposes, such as to select people for jury duty.</p> <p>In the nineteenth century, the management of elections, often under a restricted franchise, was undertaken by colonial authorities. From 1901, with Federation, the Commonwealth Government gradually undertook the management of the rolls for both State and Federal elections except for WA.</p> <p>Because enrolment is compulsory for all eligible voters (with the exception of Norfolk Island) there is a strong chance that a person can be located.</p> <p>Until the advent of widespread computers in 1985 which brought about the publication of single lists on fiche and hence the easy searching of databases, researchers were somewhat restricted by the large number of names and the arrangement of the rolls into Divisions (the Commonwealth term for an electorate). Publishing scanned versions on searchable CDs overcomes these significant barriers.</p>
