The Poor and Deservingness for Political and Social Citizenship: “Universal suffrage” in Finland Since 1906

Although universal suffrage was implemented in Finland in national elections (1906) and in local elections (1917), poor relief recipients were, among eight other groups, excluded from voting rights. By focusing on poor relief, the chapter analyses how exclusion criteria were connected to the economic ideals of a citizen. Regular poor relief was an obstacle for voting until the 1940s and those poor relief recipients who were under the guardianship of the local board of public welfare were excluded until 1970. Moreover, voting practices were exclusive, as poor relief institutions were not accepted as polling stations until the late 1960s. By using deservingness as an analytic concept, Harjula indicates how the strict reciprocity, which defined a vote as a reward for fulfilled responsibilities—indicating independence and contribution—, was replaced by the idea of equality-based individual rights. As two societal layers of experience, these competing views resulted in complex and hierarchical lived citizenship of the poor. The combination of electoral legislation, social welfare legislation, and civil legislation intertwined civil, social, and political rights and created differing notions of belonging at the local and national levels.