 By Bay City News Service
A Public Policy Institute of California study released in San Francisco earlier this month shows that reapportionment of congressional districts in the 1990s has led to a increase of voter participation among black and Latino communities.
Majority-minority congressional districts “allow for multiple racial and ethnic communities to have real political influence — a key to increased turnout — without diminishing white voter participation,” said Claudia Gay, author of the study and political science professor at Stanford University.
“Ultimately, this may help create an electorate that more accurately reflects the state’s racial and ethnic diversity.”
A spokeswoman for the San Francisco-based policy group says its report titled “The Effect of Minority Districts and Minority Representation in California” is the first of its kind to provide empirical evidence that creating majority-minority districts leads to greater political participation by minority groups.
The study says that in 16 majority-minority congressional districts that were created as a result of redistricting inaugurated in 1991, blacks and Latinos are voting in much higher percentages than those who live in majority-white districts. Asians were not included in the study because of data constraints, a spokeswoman said.
Gay used census data from the November 1994 congressional elections to compare turnout rates in the state’s 13 majority-minority congressional districts with in those in majority-white districts.
Gay’s conclusion was that Latino and black voter participation is highest in congressional districts where they are able to play a prominent role, while white voter participation does not suffer in districts where they are the minority.
She found that when compared to voter turnout in majority-white districts, Latino voters participate at rates 33 percent higher in Latino-majority districts, 30 percent higher in districts where Latinos and blacks are evenly matched, and 7 percent higher in multi-ethnic districts.
Turnout rates by black voters were highest in districts where blacks and Latinos were evenly matched, at 7 percent higher than majority-white district, and 4 percent higher in multi-ethnic districts. Voting participation by blacks was the lowest in districts where a non-black community of any race dominated the congressional election, the spokeswoman said. |
