The New Orleans Mayoral Election: The Voting Rights Act and the Politics of Return and Rebuild

Abstract

The first regular post-Katrina election for the city of New Orleans, originally set for February 2, 2006, was washed out following the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina. An important post-Katrina case study is to analyze the extent to which the hurricanes, which affected the physical condition of so many African Americans, also impacted their fundamental citizenship rights. In particular, it is important to assess whether those rights, especially the right to vote, would be protected given the scope of general issues that encompass the rehabilitation process. Given the state of disorganization, despair, and urgency for some of the displaced New Orleans residents that I encountered in visits to the region, voting in the election was a lower priority relative to other rebuilding issues such as finding housing, obtaining economic subsistence, finding and burying relatives, and other critical issues. Nevertheless, what was at stake in the election was the potential displacement of black political power, not only in the city of New Orleans, but as it affected the status of black presence in the state legislature and in the Congress of the United States as well.