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The Voting Rights Act and the Election of Nonwhite Officials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2007

Pei-te Lien ,
Dianne M. Pinderhughes ,
Carol Hardy-Fanta  and
Christine M. Sierra
Pei-te Lien
Affiliation:
University of Utah
Dianne M. Pinderhughes
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame
Carol Hardy-Fanta
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Christine M. Sierra
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico
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Extract

The Voting Rights Act (VRA) is one of the most important—if not the most important—public policies developed over the last half century to increase access to the U.S. political system for people of color. The VRA also provides an important context for understanding the ascension of nonwhite groups into the elected leadership of the nation (Browning, Marshall, and Tabb 1984; Davidson and Grofman 1994; Menifield 2001; McClain and Stewart 2002; Segura and Bowler 2005; Bositis 2006). This essay assesses the present-day significance of the VRA for the political representation of communities of color by examining the implications of majority-minority districts and other key provisions in the VRA for the election of nonwhite officials in the beginning years of the twenty-first century.

Type
FEATURES
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , July 2007 , pp. 489 - 494
Copyright
© 2007 The American Political Science Association

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