Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-wq484 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T17:29:34.963Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Redistricting Principles and Racial Representation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Jason Barabas  and
Jennifer Jerit
Jason Barabas
Affiliation:
Harvard University and Southern Illinois University
Jennifer Jerit
Affiliation:
Southern Illinois University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

How do traditional redistricting principles—contiguity, communities of interest, political subdivisions, incumbent protection, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, preservation of district core, and compactness—affect racial minority representation in congressional districts? Using data from the 2001-02 redistricting process, we find that compactness is the only principle that significantly affects minority representation, both in terms of majority-minority districts and minority influence districts, but these effects are contingent on the size of the minority community and extent of racial segregation in a state. Two other principles, Section 5 pre-clearance and protecting political subdivisions, improve minority representation in a more limited way. Thus, race-neutral redistricting criteria like the compactness principle, can dramatically affect the racial composition of the resulting districts and, thereby, affect minority representation.

Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 4 , Issue 4 , Winter 2004 , pp. 415 - 435
Copyright
Copyright © Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramson, Paul R., Aldrich, John H., and Rohde, David W.. 2002. Change and Continuity in the 2000 Elections. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Altman, Micah. 1998a. “Modeling the Effect of Mandatory District Compactness on Partisan Gerrymanders.” Political Geography 17:989–1012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Altman, Micah. 1998b. “Districting Principles and Democratic Representation.” Ph.D. diss. California Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Barone, Michael, Cohen, Richard E., and Cook, Charles E. Jr. 2001. The Almanac of American Politics 2002. Washington, DC: National Journal.Google Scholar
Brace, Kimball, Grofman, Bernard, Handley, Lisa, and Niemi, Richard. 1988. “Minority Voting Equality: The 65 Percent Rule in Theory and Practice.” Law and Policy 10:43–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bullock, Charles S. III. 1995. “Affirmative Action Districts: In Whose Faces Will They Blow Up?” Campaigns and Elections 16(4):22–3.Google Scholar
Butler, David, and Cain, Bruce. 1992. Congressional Redistricting: Comparative Theories and Perspectives. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Canon, David T. 1999. Race, Redistricting, and Representation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, Charles, Epstein, David, and O'Halloran, Sharyn. 1996. “Do Majority-Minority Districts Maximize Substantive Black Representation in Congress?” American Political Science Review 90:794–812.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Jacob. 1988. Statistical Power Analysis for the Social Sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Davidson, Chandler. 1992. “The Voting Rights Act: A Brief History.” In Controversies in Minority Voting, eds. Grofman, Bernard and Davidson, Chandler. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Easley v. Cromartie. 2001. 532 U.S. 234.Google Scholar
Engstrom, Richard L. 1995. “Voting Rights Districts: Debunking the Myths.” Campaigns and Elections 16(4):24, 46.Google Scholar
Engstrom, Richard N., and Alford, John R.. 2002. “A New Approach to Measuring District Compactness.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago.Google Scholar
Flanigan, William H., and Zingale, Nancy H.. 1998. Political Behavior of the American Electorate. 9th ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Grofman, Bernard, and Handley, Lisa. 1989. “Minority Population and Black and Hispanic Congressional Success in the 1970s and 1980s.” American Politics Quarterly 17:436–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grofman, Bernard, and Handley, Lisa. 1998. “Estimating the Impact of Voting-Rights-Related Districting on Democratic Strength in the U.S. House of Representatives.” In Race and Redistricting in the 1990s, ed. Grofman, Bernard. New York: Agathon Press.Google Scholar
Grofman, Bernard, Handley, Lisa, and Lublin, David. 2001. “Drawing Effective Minority Districts: A Conceptual Framework and Some Empirical Evidence.” North Carolina Law Review 79:1383–430.Google Scholar
Harrison, Roderick J., and Weinberg, Daniel H.. 1992. “Racial and Ethnic Residential Segregation in 1990.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Denver, CO.Google Scholar
Hawkings, David, and Nutting, Brian. 2004. Politics in America 2004: The 108th Congress. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press.Google Scholar
Hirsch, Sam. 2002. “Unpacking Page v. Bartels: A Fresh Redistricting Paradigm Emerges in New Jersey.” Election Law Journal 1:7–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jerit, Jennifer, Gottemoller, Paul, and Barabas, Jason. 2003. “U.S. Redistricting Standards: A Protocol for Data Collection.” Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
King, Gary. 1989. Unifying Political Methodology: The Likelihood Theory of Statistical Inference. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
King, Gary, Tomz, Michael, and Wittenberg, Jason. 2000. “Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation.” American Journal of Political Science 44:347–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Long, J. Scott. 1997. Regression Models for Categorical and Limited Dependent Variables. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Long, J. Scott, and Freese, Jeremy. 2001. Regression Models for Categorical Dependent Variables Using Stata. College Station, TX: Stata.Google Scholar
Lowenstein, Daniel H., and Steinberg, Jonathan. 1985. “The Quest for Legislative Districting in the Public Interest: Elusive or Illusory?” UCLA Law Review 33:1–75.Google Scholar
Lublin, David. 1997. The Paradox of Representation: Racial Gerrymandering and Minority Interests in Congress. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Lublin, David. 1999. “Racial Redistricting and African American Representation: A Critique of ‘Do Majority Districts Maximize Substantive Black Representation in Congress?‘.” American Political Science Review 93:183–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDonald, Michael D. 1996. “The Why and How of Compact Districts.” American Review of Politics 17:329–43.Google Scholar
McDonald, Michael P. 2004. “A Comparative Analysis of Redistricting Institutions in the United States, 2001-02.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 4:371–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller v. Johnson. 1995. 515 U.S. 900.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niemi, Richard G., Grofman, Bernard, Carlucci, Carl, and Hofeller, Thomas. 1990. “Measuring Compactness and the Role of a Compactness Standard in a Test for Partisan and Racial Gerrymandering.” Journal of Politics 52:1155–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Page v. Batels. 2001. 248 F3d 175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrocik, John R., and Desposato, Scott W.. 1998. “The Partisan Consequences of Majority Minority Redistricting in the South, 1992 and 1994.” Journal of Politics 60:613–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pildes, Richard H., and Niemi, Richard G.. 1993. “Expressive Harms, ‘Bizarre Districts,‘ and Voting Rights: Evaluating Election-District Appearances after Shaw v. Reno.” Michigan Law Review 92:483–587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polsby, Daniel D., and Popper, Robert D.. 1991. “Ugly: An Inquiry into the Problem of Racial Gerrymandering under the Voting Rights Act.” Michigan Law Review 92:588–651.Google Scholar
Shaw v. Reno. 1993. 509 U.S. 630.Google Scholar
Shotts, Kenneth W. 2003. “Does Racial Redistricting Cause Conservative Policy Outcomes? Policy Preferences of Southern Representatives in the 1980s and 1990s.” Journal of Politics 65:216–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slack, Brian, and Rodrigue, Jean-Paul. 2004. “Gini Coefficient.” In Transport Geography on the Web, eds. Rodrigue, Jean-Paul, Slack, Brian, and Comtois, Claude. Hofstra University, Department of Economics & Geography. http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans (accessed April 21, 2004).Google Scholar
Stern, Robert. 1974. “Political Gerrymandering: A Statutory Compactness Standard as an Antidote for Judicial Impotence.” University of Chicago Law Review 41:398–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swain, Carol M. 1995. Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Wattson, Peter. 1999. Redistricting Law 2000. http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/depart-ments/scr/redist/red2000/red-tc.htm (accessed April 26, 2004).Google Scholar
Wells, David. 1982. “Against Affirmative Gerrymandering.” In Race and Redistricting in the 1990s, ed. Grofman, Bernard. New York: Agathon Press.Google Scholar