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Suppressing Black Votes: A Historical Case Study of Voting Restrictions in Louisiana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2021

LUKE KEELE Open the ORCID record for LUKE KEELE [Opens in a new window] ,
WILLIAM CUBBISON Open the ORCID record for WILLIAM CUBBISON [Opens in a new window]  and
ISMAIL WHITE
LUKE KEELE*
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
WILLIAM CUBBISON*
Affiliation:
The Israeli Alliance
ISMAIL WHITE*
Affiliation:
Princeton University
*
Luke Keele, Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, [email protected].
William Cubbison, Director of Research, The Israeli Alliance, Tel Aviv, [email protected].
Ismail White, Professor, Department of Politics, Princeton University, [email protected].
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Abstract

Southern states have used a variety of methods to disenfranchise African American voters. Empirical data on the effectiveness of these measures is rare. We present a unique data source from Louisiana that allows us to empirically document voter registration rates from the end of Reconstruction to the present. Using basic time series data, we document how voter registration rates changed over time in response to state restrictions. We then conduct a second analysis, which focuses on Louisiana’s use of the Understanding Clause to reduce voter registration among Blacks. We show that in parishes that used the Understanding Clause, Black registration rates dropped by nearly 30 percentage points, with little effect on white registration. The findings of this paper have important implications for understanding the potential for discrimination in the enforcement of modern, ostensibly nonracial, voter eligibility requirements, such as voter ID laws, which grant substantial discretion to local officials in determining voter eligibility.

Type
Letter
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 115 , Issue 2 , May 2021 , pp. 694 - 700
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of American Political Science Association

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