Democracy in Troubled Times | The Voting Rights Act, Shelby County, and the Racial Turnout Gap by Kevin Morris

Between 1965 and 2013, many states and localities with histories of racial discrimination in their voting practices were required to pre-clear any changes to their electoral policies with the federal government to ensure they would not have racially discriminatory effects. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated Section 4b of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in Shelby County v. Holder, effectively nullifying this “preclearance condition” in the VRA. We begin by examining the policies submitted for (and those blocked by) preclearance during the half-century in which it was operative, showing that preclearance largely prevented discriminatory local policies from going into effect. We then leverage nearly a billion individual-level vote records to show that Shelby County dramatically increased the racial turnout gap. We find that these effects were concentrated in counties where policies had been blocked by preclearance, and where specifically local policies were constrained by the VRA.

This talk is co-sponsored by the Institute for Social Science Research.

This is an event series designed to create intellectual conversation and community support for students, staff, faculty, and community members during what is sure to be an exciting, yet nerve-racking, election cycle. We envision that each speaker’s visit and related activities will generate opportunities for our community to come together to process and engage deeply with one another over the elections and what they mean for the fundamental concept of Democracy. Visit Democracy in Troubled Times.

Dr. Morris will be discussing the evolving orientations to the role of social science in public life in Thompson 420 from 11:30 am - 12:45, April 23rd. Register now!

Kevin Morris is a Senior Research Fellow and Voting Policy Scholar at the Brennan Center, where his work focuses on voting rights, election administration, and the effects of the criminal legal system on political participation. His scholarly work has been published in journals like the American Political Science Review and the Journal of Politics, and his public-facing writing and Congressional testimony has received a wide audience outside the academy. His work has been cited by state and federal courts, including the US Supreme Court. He holds a BA in Economics from Boston College, a Master's of Urban Planning from NYU, and a PhD in Sociology from the CUNY Graduate Center.