Voting Rights After Shelby County v Holder: Analysis of Polling Place Closures

• In Event: Democratic Backsliding and Contracting Minority Suffrage

Abstract

In the 2013 Shelby County v Holder decision, the Supreme Court struck down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. As a result, jurisdictions which previously were required to have any intended changes to their election processes reviewed by the federal government can now make changes without oversight. One practice since 2013 has been to change or close the location of a polling place. While polling places can be closed for a number of different reasons, this paper explores the relationship between polling place closures and the number and location of racial minority voters. For this paper, we use original data from North Carolina, South Carolina and Alaska and compare changes in the number and location of polling places between 2012 and 2018 within the same state. We analyze the relationship between polling place closures and the size of the minority voting age population and estimated voter turnout. This analysis will help determine if the reversal of the Voting Rights Act in 2013 has led to greater minority voting disenfranchisement and offers some evidence for the necessity of readopting the original preclearance requirement.

Authors

• Natalie Masuoka, University of California, Los Angeles

• Christopher T. Stout, Oregon State University

• Chelsea Jones, University of California Los Angeles