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The Changing Impact of Electoral Structure on Black Representation in the South, 1970–1996

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Abstract

For many years voting rights litigation has focused on eliminationof at-large elections and the creation of ``majority-minority''districts – election districts where a majority of the electorateare racial/ethnic minorities. Numerous studies have analyzed theimpact of district elections on minority representation,particularly the election of blacks in the South. Most of thesestudies have focused on a single time period, comparing the ratioof black representatives to black population across cities withdifferent electoral schemes. The present study combines data fromsix different data sets to produce a panel of data covering fivedistinct time periods over a 26 year span. Cross-sectionalestimates of the effect of district elections in each time periodare compared to determine how the efficacy of district electionshas changed over time. To control for possible selection bias,inter-temporal models of the impact of changes in electionstructure on changes in representation are also estimated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32306-2180, U.S.A

    Tim R. Sass

  2. Department of Economics, University of Chicago, 1126 East 59th Street, Chicago, IL, 60637, U.S.A.

    Bobby J. Pittman Jr.

Authors
  1. Tim R. Sass
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  2. Bobby J. Pittman Jr.
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Sass, T.R., Pittman, B.J. The Changing Impact of Electoral Structure on Black Representation in the South, 1970–1996. Public Choice 104, 369–388 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005188617535

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