Minority voting districts
Minority voting districts are electoral districts designed to ensure that minority populations have a significant opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. This concept emerged prominently after the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which aimed to address racial discrimination in voting, particularly in the American South. Despite the Act's success in increasing African American voter participation, minorities continued to face underrepresentation in elected offices.
The creation of "majority-minority" districts was mandated by an amendment in 1982, especially in areas with a history of racial disfranchisement. These districts are structured so that the population of minorities constitutes a majority, thereby enhancing their electoral influence. Redistricting, or reapportionment, is the process through which these districts are periodically redrawn, typically after each census, to reflect population changes. However, gerrymandering, the manipulation of district boundaries for political gain, has often undermined these efforts, diluting minority voting power.
While majority-minority districts have facilitated the election of more representatives from diverse backgrounds, they also face legal challenges, including questions about their constitutionality and the implications of creating districts based solely on race. Understanding the dynamics of minority voting districts is crucial for comprehending the broader conversation about representation and equity in the American electoral system.
On this Page
Minority voting districts
The 1965 Voting Rights Act prohibited limiting the rights of all people to vote and called on the federal government to examine suspect elections. Specifically, it addressed efforts by White people in the American South to keep African Americans from voting. The act was successful in eradicating exclusionary practices and resulted in substantial increases in the numbers of African Americans who voted, but minority political disfranchisement still existed. Minorities remained proportionally underrepresented in elected offices nationwide.
The 1982 amendment mandated the creation of “majority-minority” voting districts in states with a history of racial disfranchisement. Such districts contain populations of minorities large enough to constitute a majority or elect a candidate of their preference. This is achieved through reapportionment, a process whereby districts are periodically redrawn by state legislatures, typically following the decennial US census. Reapportionment ideally reflects the changes in population occurring since the last census count. However, districts were gerrymandered during reapportionment to preclude the election of minorities by dividing minority populations across districts. Such gerrymandering for political self-interest is commonplace and was named after Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry, who, in 1812, advocated a salamander-shaped voting district.
Redistricting to create minority voting districts has been successful if measured by the numbers of minorities elected to office in such districts. However, minority districts face constitutional challenges. According to the University of California, Los Angeles’s Latino Policy and Politics Institute, majority-minority districts can be created when at least 51 percent of the district consists of voters of color; voters of color and White voters consistently vote for different candidates; and White voters consistently prevent voters of color from electing their chosen candidate.
Bibliography
Behr, Joshua G. Race, Ethnicity, and the Politics of City Redistricting: Minority-Opportunity Districts and the Election of Hispanics and Blacks to City Councils. New York: State U of New York P, 2004. Print.
Bullock, Charles S., and Ronald Keith Gaddie. The Triumph of Voting Rights in the South. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 2009. Print.
Lublin, David. Minority Rules: Electoral Systems, Decentralization, and Ethnoregional Party Success. New York: Oxford UP, 2014. Print.
Medvic, Stephen K. Campaigns and Elections: Players and Processes. New York: Routledge, 2015. Print.
Miller, William J., and Jeremy D. Walling, eds. The Political Battle over Congressional Redistricting. Lanham: Lexington, 2013. Print.
"Redistricting Criteria and Legal Requirements." Latino Policy & Politics Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, vrp.ucla.edu/redistricting-criteria-and-legal-requirements/. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.