Replication data for: Do 40-Year-Old Facts Still Matter? Long-Run Effects of Federal Oversight under the Voting Rights Act

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Desmond Ang

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
appendix_vra_public.do text/plain 12.2 KB 12/07/2019 08:48:AM
main_vra_public.do text/plain 4.1 KB 12/07/2019 08:48:AM
online_vra_public.do text/plain 6.4 KB 12/07/2019 08:48:AM

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act that mandated federal oversight of election laws in discriminatory jurisdictions, prompting a spate of controversial new voting rules. Utilizing difference-in-differences to examine the act's 1975 revision, I provide the first estimates of the effects of "preclearance" oversight. I find that preclearance increased long-run voter turnout by 4-8 percentage points, due to lasting gains in minority participation. Surprisingly, Democratic support dropped sharply in areas subject to oversight. Using historical survey and newspaper data, I provide evidence that this was the result of political backlash among racially conservative whites.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms [voting, voting rights act]
JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
      J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
      K16 Election Law
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage United States
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) [administrative records data, census/enumeration data]

Methodology

Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation State,

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Published Versions

V1 [2019-12-07]

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Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

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