"In the wake of Shelby County v. Holder, Republican Voter ID laws, and the January 6 storming of the Capitol, election policies, and especially access to voting, have become a key political battleground. A central point of contention is whether these new Republican voting laws are intentional attempts to discriminate against Black and Hispanic subpopulations in the United States. Conversely, do policies that expand voting access favor Democrats and increase the possibility of election fraud? In this book, the authors put these questions to the test. The authors look specifically for systematic outcomes produced by unique election policies in the American states. To begin this unraveling, they first establish a competent measure of voting restrictions. The authors have created a Cost of Voting Index (COVI) for the 50 states, which uses a statistical procedure to extract an underlying dimension from rows of numbers representing state laws. The more restrictive policies receive larger numbers. The statistical analysis looks for rhyme or reason in the rows of numbers, and the authors call the underlying dimension extracted the "cost of voting." With this measure in place, they are able to evaluate which states have a higher cost of voting, how this cost impacts who votes, and whether there is a correlation between the cost of voting and minority populations. Examining Racial Threat Theory arguments, the authors demonstrate that states with larger or growing Black and Hispanic populations have more restricted voting, and furthermore that these restrictive voting laws disproportionately demobilize these populations in predictable ways. States with a higher cost of voting also show lower minority electoral success and a larger gap in Black and female representation. The authors likewise show that decreasing the cost of voting does not lead to fraud or favor one party over another. The Cost of Voting in the American States makes the case for a new preclearance formula, and the authors' COVI provides a viable approach for future election law"-- Provided by publisher.
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Contents
Front Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Introduction
1 A Brief History of Voting Restrictions in the United States
2 The Changing Nature of State Election Law
3 Falling Behind or Jumping Ahead: Movement in the State Cost of Voting Rank
4 Minority Populations, Republicans, and the COVI
5 The COVI and Reported Voter Turnout
6 Minority Candidate Electoral Success and the Underrepresentation of Minorities and Women
7 The First Big Lie: Accessible Voting Leads to Widespread Voter Fraud
8 The Second Big Lie: More Convenient Voting Helps Democrats
Conclusion
APPENDICES
A: Measurement Challenges and Omitted Variables
B: More Specifics on Constructing the Cost of Voting Index
C: Sensitivity Analysis
D: Construct Validity Check, the COVI, and State Voter Turnout
E: Chapter 4 Tables
F: State COVI Values by Presidential Election
G: Chapter 5 Tables
Notes
References
Index
Back Cover
ISBN
9780700635931
0700635939
OCLC
1430660320
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