ATSIC elections since 1990 have used the Commonwealth Electoral Roll as a large under-specified list of potential voters. Dissatisfaction with this arrangement within the Tasmanian Aboriginal community led to a trial roll of Indigenous electors being drawn up for the 2002 ATSIC elections in that State. Will Sanders discusses a number of contexts in which this trial was developed. It also recounts the experience of the trial itself, which did not work out as successfully as had been hoped by those who had promoted it. Finally it looks at lessons from the trial and options for the future.