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Do 40-Year-Old Facts Still Matter? Long-Run Effects of Federal Oversight under the Voting Rights Act

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  • Desmond Ang

Abstract

In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act that mandated federal oversight of election laws in discriminatory jurisdictions, prompting a spate of controversial new voting rules. Utilizing difference-in-differences to examine the act's 1975 revision, I provide the first estimates of the effects of "preclearance" oversight. I find that preclearance increased long-run voter turnout by 4-8 percentage points, due to lasting gains in minority participation. Surprisingly, Democratic support dropped sharply in areas subject to oversight. Using historical survey and newspaper data, I provide evidence that this was the result of political backlash among racially conservative whites.

Suggested Citation

  • Desmond Ang, 2019. "Do 40-Year-Old Facts Still Matter? Long-Run Effects of Federal Oversight under the Voting Rights Act," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 1-53, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:11:y:2019:i:3:p:1-53
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.20170572
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jean Lacroix, 2023. "Ballots Instead of Bullets? The Effect of the Voting Rights Act on Political Violence," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 764-813.
    2. Bernini, Andrea & Facchini, Giovanni & Tabellini, Marco & Testa, Cecilia, 2023. "Black Empowerment and White Mobilization: The Effects of the Voting Rights Act," CEPR Discussion Papers 18238, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Casella, Alessandra & Guo, Jeffrey Da-Ren & Jiang, Michelle, 2023. "Minority turnout and representation under cumulative voting. An experiment," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 133-155.
    4. Salvatore M. De Rienzo Jr., 2022. "Shelby County v. Holder and Changes in Voting Behavior," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 67(2), pages 195-210, October.
    5. Billings, Stephen B. & Braun, Noah & Jones, Daniel B. & Shi, Ying, 2024. "Disparate racial impacts of Shelby County v. Holder on voter turnout," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    6. Facchini, Giovanni & Kinght, Brian & Testa, Cecilia, 2020. "The Franchise, Policing, and Race: Evidence from Arrests Data and the Voting Rights Act," CEPR Discussion Papers 14946, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Kainuma, Shuhei, 2024. "Transition to broader-based politics: The role of suffrage extension in early 20th century Japan," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    8. Billings, Stephen B. & Braun, Noah & Jones, Daniel & Shi, Ying, 2022. "Disparate Racial Impacts of Shelby County v. Holder on Voter Turnout," IZA Discussion Papers 15829, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Kyle Raze, 2022. "Voting rights and the resilience of Black turnout," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(3), pages 1127-1141, July.
    10. Andrea Bernini & Giovanni Facchini & Marco Tabellini & Cecilia Testa, 2024. "Sixty Years of the Voting Rights Act: Progress and Pitfalls," Economics Series Working Papers 1035, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    11. Mehic, Adrian, 2020. "The Electoral Consequences of Nuclear Fallout: Evidence from Chernobyl," Working Papers 2020:23, Lund University, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • K16 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Election Law

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