<P> In addition to the suffrage changes, the Act also instituted the present system of holding general elections on one day, as opposed to being staggered over a period of weeks (although the polling itself would only take place on a single day in each constituency), and brought in the annual electoral register . </P> <P> The bill for the Representation of the People Act was passed by a majority of 385 to 55 in the House of Commons on 19 June 1917 . The bill still had to pass through the House of Lords, but Lord Curzon, the president of the National League for Opposing Woman Suffrage did not want to clash with the Commons and so did not oppose the bill . Many other opponents of the Bill in the Lords lost heart when he refused to act as their spokesman . The bill passed by 134 to 71 votes . </P> <P> The first election held under the new system was the 1918 general election . Polling took place on 14 December 1918, but vote - counting did not start until 28 December 1918 . </P> <P> After this Act gave about 8.4 million women the vote, the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 was passed in November 1918, allowing women to be elected to Parliament . Several women stood for election to the House of Commons in 1918, but only one, the Sinn Féin candidate for Dublin St. Patrick's, Constance Markievicz, was elected; however she chose not to take her seat at Westminster and instead sat in Dáil Éireann (the First Dáil) in Dublin . The first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons was Nancy Astor on 1 December 1919, having been elected as a Coalition Conservative MP for Plymouth Sutton on 28 November 1919 . </P>

When did the common man get the right to vote