The Personal Computer vs. The Voting Rights Act

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Wednesday October 28, 2015 · 5:54 PM PDT

2015/10/28 · 17:54

This is just a little shameless self-promotion. Thanks to the inspiring work of many on this site, I was compelled to write an article on the Shelby County v. Holder decision in the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review. SPSS was used to generate most of the data (from the census).

Below the fold is the abstract and the citation (so you can look it up at your local library/database).

I wrote this in 2013/14, but you all know how slow academia moves.
This is the abstract:

This Comment explores the improvements in mapping technology and more accurate data rendering which combine to give state legislatures and county governments the unprecedented ability to build ethnically polarized legislative and voting districts. This Comment argues that the Republican strategy in redistricting states previously covered by VRA preclearance has serious and impermissible racial ramifications; this reality contradicts the rationale of the Supreme Court's recent redistricting jurisprudence. Beginning with an historical background of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Supreme Court's jurisprudence in determining acceptable redistricting principles, this Comment then moves through quantitative statistical methodology to address the differences between strongly ethnically polarized jurisdictions and jurisdictions with lower racial polarization. Finally, the analysis turns to the issue of how Republican dominated legislatures' use of modern technology and ethnic polarization combine to significantly reduce the representation and influence of politically distinct minority groups.

Citation:
Jeffrey Esparza, THE PERSONAL COMPUTER VS. THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT: HOW MODERN MAPPING TECHNOLOGY AND ETHNICALLY POLARIZED VOTING WORK TOGETHER TO SEGREGATE VOTERS, 84 U.M.K.C. L. Rev. 235 (2015).

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The Personal Computer vs. The Voting Rights Act

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