Protecting Voting Rights in Redistricting and at the Ballot Box: Past and Future

Session Submission Type: Created Panel

Session Description

Looking ahead to the 2020 election and the 2021 round of redistricting, this panel considers the ways in which voting and redistricting are and have been shaped by state and federal legislative protections for voting rights. The Supreme Court’s decision rendering inoperative the centerpiece of the Voting Rights Act prompts a fulsome scholarly evaluation of the social and political contributions of the preclearance regime. It also puts the spotlight of the Act even more squarely on Section 2’s protections against diluting minority strength. Finally, that the decision entails significant withdrawal of federal involvement in protecting voting rights amplifies state-level legislative solutions.

Sub Unit

• Related Groups / Law and Political Process Study Group

Individual Presentations

• The Effect of Political Power on Labor Market Inequality: Evidence from the VRA - Abhay Aneja, UC Berkeley

• Formal Redistricting Criteria and Fairness to Underrepresented Racial Minorities - Bruce E. Cain, Stanford University; Wendy K. Tam Cho, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Emily Zhang, Stanford University; Iris Hui, Stanford University

• Electoral Institutions and Distributive Goods: Evidence from the CVRA - Asya Magazinnik, MIT; Michael Hankinson, George Washington University

Chair

• Daniel H. Lowenstein University of California, Los Angeles

Discussant

• Thad Kousser University of California, San Diego