THE VOTING-RIGHTS ACT, DISTRICT ELECTIONS, AND THE SUCCESS OF BLACK CANDIDATES IN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Over the last 20 years blacks and other minority groups have used the Voting Rights Act to challenge the legality of at-large election syste ms and promote the election of representatives by district. In this ar ticle we compare electoral outcomes over time in order to determine th e effects of district elections on the success of black city council c andidates in municipal elections. Consistent with previous cross-secti onal analyses, we find that district elections aided black candidates in the early 1980s. However, our results also show that blacks have ac hieved substantially greater success in at-large elections over the la st 10 years, thereby reducing the difference in representation among c ities with different election systems. Our results are robust when int erracial demographic differences and possible selection biases are tak en into account. We conclude that the diminished efficacy of district elections is likely due to a reduction in the racial polarization of v oters.