Michael G. Miller

Michael G. Miller

@michaelgmiller.bsky.social

Political Scientist, Barnard College. Elections, Voting Rights, and Political Behavior. Blue collar scholar. #SkolVikings 🇺🇦

3,986 Followers 488 Following 12 Posts Joined Jun 2023
1 year ago
While it is commonly understood that the poll tax and literacy tests, among other measures, were used effectively in the South to disenfranchise Black voters from the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century, what is not well known is how much those disenfranchising laws mattered. Specifically, how much did the enactment of poll taxes or literacy tests affect turnout in federal and state elections? And how much did those disenfranchising provisions dampen vote totals for Republican candidates in the South? Using the staggered implementation and removal of several disenfranchising policies over a 101-year period, we answer these questions and provide some precision to our collective knowledge of the “disenfranchising era” in American electoral politics. Overall, we find that the poll tax was the main driver of disenfranchisement in Southern elections, with literacy tests and the Australian ballot providing some secondary effects. We also find that ex-felon disenfranchisement laws were considerably more important—both in reducing turnout as well as Republican vote share in Southern elections—than has been traditionally understood. Finally, we unpack the “South” and unsurprisingly find that racial politics drove these results: the disenfranchising institutions were more impactful in states with a larger Black population share. Our results show the powerful effects of disenfranchising policies on electorates and electoral outcomes. We discuss these results in both their historical context as well as with a mind to the continuing use of disenfranchising provisions in law today.

This paper deserves more attention. Uses Keyssar and other data to compile the most comprehensive historical state disenfranchisement law dataset I've seen. Uses it to show which policies reduced turnout most (it was poll taxes)

gated: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

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1 year ago

The chord is now resolved!

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2 years ago

👏

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2 years ago

Did you know you can permanently edit the titles of your articles on Google Scholar so they're properly capitalized, thus eliminating the need for anyone who copies the citation to them from having to fix their bibliography?

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2 years ago

Who knows. I think that would be worse for their re-election prospects than not backing Trump though.

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2 years ago

Wasn’t aware this existed. BlueSky comes at you pretty fast I guess!

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2 years ago

One per semester; more if we have an active search.

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2 years ago

This is pretty much my approach.

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2 years ago

Depends. How much vote suppression will there be in the 2700s Kevin?

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2 years ago

I think such a law would likely be struck down because it creates additional qualifications for the office. See USTL v. Thornton.

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2 years ago

Revising and extending…I was referring to conference fees, but I guess those are paid to the convention center.

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2 years ago

The hotel is getting paid whether or not you go. The ink on that contract is dry.

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2 years ago

Hi Paul, please add me. Thanks!

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