 In the unreformed House of Commons to be either a candidate or an elector for a county seat , a man had to own ( not rent ) freehold property valued for the land tax at two pounds a year ( women could neither vote nor stand for election ) . This was known as the 40 / - freehold . The franchise for borough seats varied enormously . Originally in Peterborough the dean and chapter had claimed the franchise and held that only residents of Minster Precincts were burgesses . By the interregnum , the city was one of 37 boroughs in which suffrage was restricted to those paying scot and lot , a form of municipal taxation . In 1800 there were 2 @,@ 000 registered voters in Northamptonshire and 400 in Peterborough . By 1835 this was 576 , or about one per cent of the population . Bribery was general until the introduction of the secret ballot under the Ballot Act 1872 . Votes were cast by spoken declaration , in public , at the hustings , erected on the Market Place ( now Cathedral Square ) . 
