Until the secret ballot was introduced in 1872, elections took place in public. Not only did those present at the hustings hear who each voter supported but after the poll closed many of the completed books made their way into print.
Naturally, votes cast in public are not a reliable guide to the true opinions of individual voters. Gifts and threats are just some of the factors that may have determined the direction in which a vote was cast. However, poll books are good evidence whether the person concerned qualified to vote in an era when many did not and, at least at Northampton itself, provide details of the voter's occupation as well as abode.
- Northampton Poll Book 1768
- Northampton Poll Book 1774
- Northampton Poll Book 1784
- Northampton Poll Book 1796
- Northampton Poll Book 1826
- Northamptonshire Poll Books 1702 & 1705 (**)
- Northamptonshire Poll Book 1730 (page 79) (**)
- Northamptonshire Poll Book 1748
- Northamptonshire Poll Book 1748 (page 187) (**)
- Northamptonshire Poll Book 1806 (page 303) (**)
- Northamptonshire Poll Book 1831 (**)
- Peterborough Poll Book 1837 (page 51)
No online editions of poll books have been found for the borough constituencies of Brackley and Higham Ferrers which were abolished in 1832.
Eighteenth-Century Political Participation and Electoral Culture provides extensive information about English parliamentary elections (including by-elections) between 1695 and 1832. It features for each election held in each constituency:
- the type of franchise, and
- where the poll books are held
The History of Parliament website includes many articles about constituencies in Northamptonshire that existed before the 1832 Reform Act. They are arranged with separate accounts for various time spans as explained in an Introduction. The constituencies featured there are:
- Brackley
- Higham Ferrers
- Northampton
- Northamptonshire
- Peterborough