The Historical Legacy of Slavery and Voting Rights Act Pre-Clearance Requests

• In Event: Election Administration in a Bunch of Different Places and Times

Brief Overview

I examine the historical legacy of slavery on preclearance requests under the Voting Rights Act. Preliminary results indicate the size of enslaved populations in 1860 matters more than current racial demographics for these requests.

Author

• David Darmofal, University of South Carolina-Columbia