William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

160160 Chapter 5 | Civil Rights

racial and ethnic minorities have generally lower turnouts (see Figure 5.1). Much of the

difference in voter turnout can be accounted for by education and income, but there

still are practices and institutions that specifically depress minority-voter turnout.

And many of these deterrents are intentional. The National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and

the Brennan Center for Justice have all documented such practices in elections going

back to 2000, including moving and reducing the number of polling places in areas

with predominantly minority voters, changing from district-based to at-large elections

(citywide or countywide elections in which there is often a mix of minority and white

voters), using voter challenges to target minority voters, redistricting to dilute minority

voting power, withholding information about registration and voting procedures from

blacks, and “causing or taking advantage of Election Day irregularities.”^26

There are other state practices that are not specifically aimed at minority voters but

that have a disproportionate impact on them. Examples have included removing voters’

names from the voting rolls if there wasn’t an identical match between the name the

voter used when registering to vote and the name as it appeared in another state database

(often the database of driver’s license information); purging the names of people who

had committed felonies from the voting registration lists, which often produced false

matches to people with the same names who had not committed a crime; and engaging

in voter intimidation and deceptive practices. Moreover, several states use technical

barriers to voter registration and voting, limit access to voter registration services at

social services offices (even though such access is required by federal law), and use poorly

designed ballots that are especially confusing to less educated or older voters.^27

In 2016 and 2017, there were 24 changes in state laws that restricted access to

voting, including requiring a photo ID to vote (which has a disproportionate impact on

minorities because they are less likely to have a photo ID), requiring proof of citizenship

before being allowed to vote, cutting back on early voting days and times, and making

it more difficult to register people to vote.^28 In addition, as we will discuss later, in

FIGURE

5.1

45

40

50

55

65

60

70%

1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016

Black

Non-Latino White

Asian

Latino

Turnout in

Presidential

Elections by Race

Turnout among African Americans has

risen steadily over the last 20 years

(with a dip in 2016), while turnout of

other groups has remained relatively

flat. What do you think accounts

for these trends? What could state

governments do to increase voter

turnout?

Source: United States Elections Project,

“Voter Turnout Demographics,” http://www.

electproject.org/home/voter-turnout/

demographics (accessed 10/26/17).

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