The Politics, Practices, and Emotions of Suffrage Exclusion in Iceland, 1915–1934

This chapter focuses on the politics of poor women and men in Iceland who were denied voting rights due to their dependency on poor relief. By analysing contemporary political discourses and drawing on the testimonies of excluded individuals, voting registers, and poor relief records, I demonstrate how the citizenship of the poor was contested not only at the national level but also at the local and individual levels, even at the polling station. In effect, this was a quest to uproot prejudice against those living in economic insecurity and to establish a new notion of citizenship that protected the poor from the shame associated with disenfranchisement and acceptance of social relief. First, I outline the rationale behind suffrage exclusions in Iceland. Next, I explore how the labour movement fought to include the “deserving poor” in the electorate. Then, I describe the development of the legal framework that culminated in a 1934 constitutional amendment, which enfranchised (most) of the people dependent on poor relief. Finally, I provide examples illustrating how these legal changes impacted the political citizenship of individual voters.