Voting Rights Act increases Latino representation on school boards

The language assistance provisions of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) have increased Latino representation on school boards across the country, according to new political science research from Rice University.

MELISSA MARSCHALL (Photo credit: Jeff Fitlow)

The study, “Voting Rights for Whom? Examining the Effects of the Voting Rights Act on Latino Political Incorporation,” will appear in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Political Science. The article is a part of a larger study systematically analyzing how the VRA has affected political participation and outcomes for blacks and Latinos.

Sections 203 and 4(f)(4) of the VRA require language assistance for registered voters whose first language is not English. The researchers used a nationally representative sample of 1,661 school districts and conducted analyses to test the effects of implementing Sections 203 and 4(f)(4) on Latino school board representation from 1984 to 2012. The researchers also examined whether increases in Latino representation on local school boards were associated with the presence of federal election observers or with federal cases raising claims under the language assistance provisions of the VRA.

“Interestingly, while the VRA has occupied an important position in popular discourse on minority participation in politics, there have been surprisingly few studies devoted to the question of how it has affected political processes and outcomes for these groups,” said Melissa Marschall, a professor of political science at Rice and the study’s lead author.

“Overall, our study underscores the continued need for federal government involvement in protecting the voting rights of underrepresented groups — in this case, language minority citizens.”
-Melissa Marschall

The findings provided the first evidence that the provisions have had a direct positive impact on Latino representation on local school boards. The probability of Latino representation in school districts covered continuously by Section 203 of VRA was significantly higher than that of districts covered only in some years or those never covered under Section 203. Districts covered continuously were 43.9 percent more likely, on average, to achieve Latino representation compared with districts that were not covered; districts covered only some years since 1975 were 19.8 percent more likely to achieve representation than districts that have never been covered.

The study also revealed that in districts where federal election observers were monitoring elections, Latinos have made more progress in expanding representation beyond a single seat than in districts where federal observers were never present. In areas covered under Section 203 since the VRA language assistance provisions were adopted in 1975, the number of Latino board members increased from an average of 1.71 with no observers present to 2.11 when observers were present. These provisions also impacted areas covered for part of the time since 1975, with the average number of representatives increasing from 1.85 to 2.28.

Marschall said that these findings clearly demonstrate that federal oversight has had an important effect on expanding Latino representation on local school boards. She said that this research has important implications for the voting rights of people who have limited-English proficiency, particularly given the change in enforcement and oversight after the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County (Alabama) v. Holder. In this landmark case, the court ruled that Section 4(b) of the VRA, which contains the coverage formula that determines which jurisdictions are subjected to preclearance based on their histories of discrimination in voting, was unconstitutional because the formula was based on data that is more than 40 years old and is no longer responsive to current needs.

“Overall, our study underscores the continued need for federal government involvement in protecting the voting rights of underrepresented groups — in this case, language minority citizens,” she said.

Amanda Rutherford, a doctoral student at Texas A&M University, co-authored the study. The research was funded by Rice University and is available online at http://bit.ly/1QajSrt.