The right of election was in Mayor and members of the corporation, together with a number of freemen of the borough.
[1] Namier and Brooke estimated that there were about fifty voters in this constituency in the second half of the eighteenth century.
It is estimated that by 1800 there were still about fifty electors, and in 1831 the number of eligible voters was 38 while the population of the borough was 865.
For many years at the time of the Reform Act, East Looe had been controlled by the Buller family of Morval (which also controlled West Looe and Saltash), and many members of the family sat for the borough in the House of Commons.
After the Reform Act 1832 disenfranchised the borough, it reverted to being represented as part of the county constituency covering its area.