Minorities%20USA

1
Minorities USA

• What attempts have been made to increase minority
  participation in recent years?

2
The Voting Rights Act

• Won as result of civil rights movement in 1960s
• outlawed the barriers which had prevented
  minorities from voting
• literacy tests
• residence qualifications
• property qualifications

3
Federal Government Attempts

• Minority / Majority Redistricting - redrawing
  constituency boundaries to increase chances of
  minorities being elected
• Motor Voter Law - to allow people to register to
  vote in places like drivers licence and welfare
  offices

4
Minority Group Campaigns

• Registration Drives have been attempted
  throughout the years by various minority groups
  such as
• - C.OR.E. (Congress of Racial Equality)
• - N.A.A.C.P. (National Association for the
  Advancement of Coloured People)
• - Rainbow Coalition - Jesse Jackson

5
Case Study - Operation Big Vote

• OBV is an attempt by The National Voter Coalition
  on Black Voter Participation to increase the
  Black vote by
• increasing black registration and turnout
• educating Black Voters in how to influence
  elected representatives
• promoting the empowerment of Blacks through
  full voter participation

6
Has it worked?

• Minority / majority redistricting is being
  challenged in the Supreme Court and is being very
  closely scrutinised in every case
• Motor voter law - only 9 million of the 20
  million who used it were actually new or
  re-registering voters. It was also used more by
  middle and upper class car owners! It is also
  claimed that it was used by many illegal
  immigrants to vote

7
Has it worked? (continued)

• Voting turnout did increase in the 2000
  Presidential election but
• Support for the Democratic Party (favoured more
  by minorities) has fallen by 30 since the 1960s
• There have been instances of increased minority
  turnout being influential at the local level -
  e.g. Hispanic vote has increased in states where
  immigration control has been an issue e.g. Texas
  and California

8
Has it worked? (Contd)

• There is certainly clear evidence of political
  progress over the last three decades although
  more recent voting and turnout rates are
  declining.
• For statistical evidence of improvement see you
  text and checklist, but note...

9
Has it worked? (Contd)

• Increased numbers of representatives at local,
  state and national level
• Increased Numbers of minorities achieving high
  office e.g. Cabinet, Supreme Court
• increased turnout in the 2000 Presidential
  Election