In anticipation of congressional hearings on the reauthorization of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 2007, the Project on Fair Representation at the American Enterprise Institute commissioned two social scientists to gather data on the state of minority participation in the election process in the jurisdictions covered by the statute.
Section 5 of the VRA requires all of nine states and parts of seven others to seek permission--or, "preclearance"-from the United States Attorney General or from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia before any election practices or procedures can be made. The states fully covered by section 5 are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.
The authors of these studies, Prof. Keith Gaddie of the Univ. of Oklahoma and Prof. Charles Bullock of the Univ. of Georgia, have produced extensive voting behavior scholarship in addition to acting as expert witnesses in dozens of voting rights cases throughout the country.
These studies analyze a variety of election criteria including: black and Hispanic voter registration rates; black and Hispanic election turnout rates; success and failure of black and Hispanic candidates; white cross-over support for minority candidates; and racial polarization levels using three different methodologies. Although the trends in minority election participation vary from state to state, the data suggest that the crisis of black voter disenfranchisement in the Deep South and elsewhere that existed in 1965 is over and Congress should allow this provision of the act to expire.
Assessment of Voting Rights Progress in Jurisdictions Covered under Section Five of the Voting Rights Act
Studies of States Fully Covered by the Section 5 Voting Rights Act
Studies of States Partially Covered by the Section 5 Voting Rights Act
Studies of States Not Covered by the Section 5 Voting Rights Act
