Abstract
Scholars continuously attempt to discern the impact of redistricting and debate the benefits and consequences of majority-minority districts, and part of that debate surrounds Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Section 5, commonly referred to as preclearance, gives the Justice Department the authority to scrutinize state and local changes in voting and electoral law. Its aim is to prevent the implementation of discriminatory electoral practices and procedures. Section 5 allows the Justice Department to accept or object any proposed changes in district lines, polling places, election rules or any other procedure related to and affecting registration and voting in local, state and national elections. Electoral changes that garner a lot of attention are newly drawn legislative districts. This research focuses on city redistricting plans submitted to the Justice Department for preclearance from southern cities in nine states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia between the years 1965 and 2000.
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Notes
Examples include: David Lublin and D. Stephen Voss, “Racial Redistricting and Realignment in Southern State Legislatures,” American Journal of Political Science 44 ( 2000): 792–810
Bernard Grofman, Race and Redisricting in the 1990s (New York: Agathon Press, 1998) 1–10
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See Kimball Brace, Bernard Grofman, and Lisa R. Handley, “Does Redistricting Aimed to Help Blacks Necessarily Help Republicans?,” The Journal of Politics 49 ( 1987): 169–85
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David Lublin and D. Stephen Voss, “Racial Redistricting and Realignment in Southern State Legislatures,” American Journal of Political Science 44 ( 2000): 792–810.
Examples include: Charles S Bullock and Susan A. MacManus, “The Impact of Staggered Terms on Minority Representation,” The Journal of Politics 49 ( 1987): 543–52
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Richard L. Engstrom and Michael D. McDonald, “The Election of Blacks to City Councils: Clarifying the Impact of Electoral Arrangements on the Seats/Population Relationship,” American Political Science Review 75 ( 1981): 344–354
]Richard L. Engstrom and Michael D. McDonald, “The Under-representation of Blacks on City Councils: Comparing the Structural and Socioeconomic Explanations for South/Non-South Differences,” The Journal of Politics 44 ( 1982): 1088–99.
Richard G. Niemi, Jeffrey S. Hill, and Bernard Grofman, “The Impact of Multi-Member Districts on Party Representation in U.S. State Legislatures,” Legislative Studies Quarterly 10 ( 1985): 441–55
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Albert K. Karnig, “Black Resources and City Council Representation,” The Journal of Politics 41 ( 1979): 134–49.
Hiroshi Motomura, “Preclearance Under Section Five of the Voting Rights Act,” North Carolina Law Review 61 ( 1983): 189–246.
See Bernard Grofman, Race and Redistricting in the 1990s (New York: Agathon Press, 1998) 1–12.
See Amihai Glazer, Bernard Grofman, and Marc Robbins, “Partisan and Incumbency Effects of the 1970s Congressional Redistricting,” American Journal of Political Science 33 ( 1987): 680–707.
See Frank P. Parker, Black Votes Count: Political Empowerment in Mississippi after 1965 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1990), 1–77.
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See Richard Murray and Arnold Vedlitz, “Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Voting Participation in Large Southern Cities,” The Journal of Politics 39 ( 1977): 1064–72.
See Robert J. Mundt and Peggy Heilig, “District Representation: Demands and Effects in the Urban South,” The Journal of Politics 44 ( 1982): 1035–48.
Susan Welch, “The Impact of At-Large Elections on the Representation of Blacks and Hispanics,” The Journal of Politics 52 ( 1990): 1050–76.
See David Campbell and Joe R. Feagin, “Black Politics in the South: A Descriptive Analysis,” The Journal of Politics 37 ( 1975): 129–62.
Robert J. Mundt and Peggy Heilig, “District Representation: Demands and Effects in the Urban South,” The Journal of Politics 44 ( 1982): 1035–48.
See Hiroshi Motomura, “Preclearance Under Section Five of the Voting Rights Act,” North Carolina Law Review 61 ( 1983): 189–246.
See Howard Ball, Dale Krane, and Thomas P. Lauth, Compromised Compliance: Implementation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982) 7–8
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© 2006 Gayle T. Tate and Lewis A. Randolph
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Middlemass, K.M. (2006). Southern Cities and Preclearance:The US Department of Justice and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In: The Black Urban Community. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-73572-3_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-73572-3_20
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