Mission Accomplished?

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2008

Abstract

Is Texas really worse than Ohio? Comparing the two - and, more broadly, the regions subject to the renewed Voting Rights Act with those that are exempt - provides critical support for the statute's validity. My study of voting rights violations nationwide suggests that voting problems are more prevalent in places covered by the Act than elsewhere. Professor Persily's careful and measured defense of the renewed statute posits that this evidence is the best available to support reauthorization. The evidence matters because if, as critics charge, the regional provisions of the Voting Rights Act are no longer needed, minority voters should confront fewer obstacles to political participation in places where additional federal safeguards protect minority interests than in places where these safeguards do not operate. In fact, minority voters confront more.

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