A Theory of Relational Spillover: How Voter ID Laws Reshape Immigrant Organizations’ Strategies Across State Contexts

• In Event: 30825 - Immigrant Political Participation

Abstract

How are organizations able to repel stringent policies in conservative states? This article develops a theory of relational spillover taking the case of Voter ID laws and their impacts on immigrant-serving organizations’ mobilization strategies. Using a unique database of immigrant-serving organizations, we analyze longitudinal organizational and news data in North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Mississippi. Findings show that the implementation of stringent voting legislation activates relational spillover through multilevel infrastructure: top-down policy spillover that threatens individuals mediated by meso-level social movement spillover. The shape of relational spillover is patterned by the interplay between state contexts at the macro level and prior organizational networks at the meso level, specifically the strength of “strategic umbrellas” for buffering spillover effects. In states with strong strategic umbrellas, such as North Carolina, organizations successfully formed coalitions to oppose Voter ID policies, delaying their implementation for some time. States with weak strategic umbrellas, such as the case of Kentucky, where coalitions had yet to be formed, organizational responses were weaker and . These findings contribute to our understanding of the spillover effects of law and policy for organizations and social movements, with implications for studies of politics, collective action, organizations, and immigrants.

Authors

• Blanca A Ramirez, University of Texas-Austin

• Hajar Yazdiha, University of Southern California