Nearly 350 years of politically sanctioned domination over Blacks ended with the passage of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 1965. The federal regulation of voter and election law sought to end retrogressions in representation by intentional or effectual laws. In the VRA's wake, race based politics and policy rooted in White supremacy were curtailed with the gradual representation of communities of color in all levels of government. Shelby County v Holder (2013) obstructed progress by effectively terminating preclearance of legal changes by the federal government. Since Shelby, retrogression of voter registration is once again on the rise. Remedies for retrogression require litigation and matriculation through the courts. This process is time consuming and allows states to conduct election law with minimal interruption until decisions are rendered.
Research predating the passage of the Voting Rights Act by Matthews and Prothro indicated that there was a significant correlation between growing minority populations and the severity of election and voter laws. This paper seeks to determine if growing minority populations, in part due to disproportionately large in-migration, correlates with declining voter registration rates. These voter registration rates are due to substantive legal changes and procedural enforcement changes. Retrogression in Black, White, and Latinx is shown in analyzing state voter registration data.
Using a time-series multivariate analysis to compare impact on Black, Latinx, and White communities across counties in North Carolina and Alabama, this paper determines that growing minority populations and in-migration do not have consistent statistical significance in explaining declining voter registration rates for Blacks and Latinx communities based on data from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey and the Alabama and North Carolina Board of Elections. Periodic retrogression in voter registration for the Black community show statistically significant positive associations with increasing population sizes. The Black community experiences retrogression via statistically significant negative associations in national election years, and Black voter registration rates recover in off-year elections. Data indicates that there may be a decrease in representation of larger minority communities that Black communities are able to overcome.
There is a strong association between decreasing voter registration rates and larger Latinx communities while the opposite is true of Black communities. The Latinx community voter registration have statistically significant negative associations with increasing population sizes and during national election years, with recovering registration rates in off-year elections. / Master of Arts / Nearly 350 years of politically sanctioned domination over Blacks ended with the passage of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 1965. The federal regulation of voter and election law sought to end retrogressions in representation by intentional or effectual laws. In the VRA's wake, race based politics and policy rooted in White supremacy were curtailed with the gradual representation of communities of color in all levels of government. Shelby County v Holder (2013) obstructed progress by effectively terminating preclearance of legal changes by the federal government. Since Shelby, retrogression of voter registration is once again on the rise. Remedies for retrogression require litigation and matriculation through the courts. This process is time consuming and allows states to conduct election law with minimal interruption until decisions are rendered.
Research predating the passage of the Voting Rights Act by Matthews and Prothro indicated that there was a significant correlation between growing minority populations and the severity of election and voter laws. This paper seeks to determine if growing minority populations, in part due to disproportionately large in-migration, correlates with declining voter registration rates. These voter registration rates are due to substantive legal changes and procedural enforcement changes. Retrogression in Black, White, and Latinx is shown in analyzing state voter registration data. Findings determine that for Black, Latinx, and White communities across counties in North Carolina and Alabama, growing minority populations and in-migration do not have significance in explaining declining voter registration rates for Blacks based on data from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey and the Alabama and North Carolina Board of Elections. However, voter registration rates decrease as Latinx communities increase in size while the opposite is true of Black communities. Retrogression in Black and Latinx voter registration during national election years and rebound in off-year elections.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/96603 |
| Date | 28 January 2020 |
| Creators | Hitchcock, Jennifer Ann |
| Contributors | Political Science, Goedert, Nicholas, Kitchens, Karin E., Jewitt, Caitlin E. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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