Russia, Duma Voter Lists, 1906-1907

About Duma Voter Lists:

Revolutionary strikes, following Russia's defeat in the war with Japan (1905), forced Tsar Nicholas II to institute the Russian Parliament, the Duma. It was the first Russian experience with democratic elections. Duma Lists are lists of eligible voters for the Russian parliament (Duma) in the early 1900's. There were four czarist-era Duma election periods:

• 1st Duma: Jan 1906 to Apr 1906


• 2nd Duma: Dec 1906 to Feb 1907


• 3rd Duma: Sep 1907 to Oct 1907


• 4th Duma: Sep 1912 to Oct 1912

Eligibility to vote was based on age (24 and older), sex (male), payment of taxes, property ownership, guild and professional membership, and some other criteria. The determination of what constituted an eligible voter varied from region to region and from Duma to Duma.

The lists of eligible voters have been compiled by the administrators of the uezds from different sources: records in kaznacheistvo (financial offices), municipal governments, apartment registries, etc. Each uezd provided the same core information.

The published voter lists were sorted alphabetically by first letter of last name. The lists included the Jews and other ethnic groups. Most of the listed non-Jews were landowners, government employees and Russian Orthodox clergy.

The Duma Lists were printed in the Guberniskie Vedomosti, which was the Russian gazette that dealt primarily with government and commercial business issues. The newspaper was printed in Cyrillic, therefore, the original lists are written in Cyrillic.

About the Database:

This database contains information from the published Duma Lists for the following areas and time periods:

• Bessarabia Gubernia (today in Moldova and Ukraine): 1906 and 1907


• Minsk Gubernia, Rechitsa uyezd (today in Belarus): 1906


• Borisov uyezd (today in Belarus): 1906


• Warszawa Gubernia (today in Poland): 1907


• Courland Gubernia, except for Libau (today in Latvia): 1907


• Windau (today Ventspils, Latvia): 1905


• Kiev Gubernia, all twelve uezds (today in central Ukraine): 1906-1907

Information Contained in Duma Voter Lists:

The information contained in the Duma Voter Lists varied from region to region and from Duma to Duma. This database contains the following fields. Not all fields will be available for each individual.

• Item number: An identification number for the transliterators


• List number: The voters on the list were labeled in numerical order


• Name: Surname and Given Name


• Patronym: The father's Given Name


• Qualification Reason / Category: the reason why the person was an eligible voter; category of eligibility


• Town: town of residence or property/business


• District (Uyezd): District in which the town is located


• Country: The country where the town is located today


• Year: The year of election


• Value of Property (Roubles): The value of their property, apartment taxes or commercial documents, in rubles


• Age: The age of a person listed. This field is only available in records from Kiev, so that is the only Gubernia where a birth year search will be effective.


• Street Address: Additional information about location of the property, business or residence

Updates:
9 Nov 2023: Added 4,938 new records.