[mallen9595]

Hi. I'm replacing two ceiling lights in a 1950's era home. Both switches are individually looped such that each controls one light. I have taped the white line to block to show that the switched line from each switch is actually hot. However, here's the problem: Even when off, I'm reading 27-30v on each of the switched lines! This seems too high for a phantom voltage, even though I am using digital meters. What could be causing this?

FWIW, the room is fed by a main that reads a consistent 120v. As far as I know, there is nothing else on this main (though a resistance/continuity check, when off, shows darned close to 0 ohms!) and seems to be the most normal part of the whole circuit. When the switches are on, I get a good 120v on each switched line.