Elections were held for the Russian Parliament (Duma) in 1906, 1907 and 1912. Voting was limited to males, but beyond that there were several means by which one could qualify to vote, e.g., by owning property or a business, and the criteria were not consistent for all the elections. Nevertheless, many Jews qualified. The voter lists were published in the regional government newspapers, Gubernskie Vedomosti, and as has been recognized by other Jewishgen groups, these lists are a valuable genealogical resource. The Gubernskie Vedomosti for Courland was published in the capital, Mitau (now Jelgava), and we have lists for many towns for the 1907 elections. However, the list shown here is one for the 1912 elections, and in fact it is a list of people disqualified from voting in Libau (now Liepaja). Interestingly, it appears that all but two of the names on the list were Jewish.

The original lists are accessible in scanned form via the links below. The lists are in Russian, and a transliterated version appears below as well. Note that the names are listed in numerical order according to their positions on the original lists, and although the order is largely alphabetical, it is according to the Cyrillic alphabet, so you should scan the whole list if you are looking for a particular name. Transliteration from the original Yiddish or German names to Russian and back to the original is obviously dangerous, but despite this and any minor transliteration errors that may have slipped in, the names can be clearly understood. Their value for genealogical purposes is greatly enhanced by the Russian practice of including the patronymic (the name ending in -ov or -ovitch), from which each man's father's name can be determined immediately.

Links to original pages: entry numbers (see list below)

16-329   331-475   483-739   782-1009   1019-1199  

Transliterated list: