Term
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Definition
definition: the “wasting” of voters created in a MMD because they are all packed into a highly concentrated Democratic district
Importance: Source of debate because spreading out these voters would benefit (white) democrats in surrounding districts |
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Term
| Voting Dilution: Definition and Importance |
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Definition
• def: cracking a majority-minority district so that a white majority district is created. Blacks in South dispersed throughout rural areas. In North, centered in Urban, highly concentrated areas
• Importance: allows policymakers (read: white ones) to dilute the power of the minority vote by spreading it out over several districts, decreasing the likelihood that a minority representative is elected |
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Term
| Majority-Minority districts: Definition and importance |
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Definition
| • def: a special type of gerrymandering that creates districts with 65% minority--or 60% voting-age eligible minority--voters • Rooted in Connor v. Johnson, which led to Congress banning the MULTI-MEMBER districts that MIssissippi was using to keep black reps mostly out of congress. gives black population more politica say in the South, but potentially hurts white democratic candidates outside the created Majority-Minority districts |
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Term
| Three criteria for Majority-Minority districts: |
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Definition
• Is minority group large/compact enough to form a majority (60% voting eligible or 65% overrall)
• Is minority group politically cohesive?
• Is there evidence of racially polarized voting AGAINST the minority? |
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Term
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Definition
• Def; creating a district that is “packed” with one voting bloc in a single member district, be it majority-minority or otherwise
• Importance: gives minority voters/candidates more political say...whites sued North C. over redistricting, claiming district packing conflicted with equal protection clause of 14th amendment. |
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Term
| Shaw v. Reno: What happened? |
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Definition
| • SC ruled gerrymandering based on racegmust be held to strict scrutiny |
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Term
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Definition
| • Court presumes a law to be unconstitutional unless gov’t is able to demonstrate that its legislation is the least restrictive means available to achieve a compelling state interest |
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Term
| Shaw v. Reno: definition and importance |
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Definition
| • Def: Supreme Court ruled that gerrymandering based on race must be held to strict scrutiny--N. Carolina’s creation of a majority-minority 12th district was justiciable, no strict scrutiny necessary • Importance: Sandra Day O’Connor stated appearance does matter on issues of race--12th district was a 160 mile line stretching through the state. |
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Term
| Gerrymandering: definition and importance |
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Definition
• def: redrawing district lines for a specific electoral purpose--redistricting
• Importance: plays a role in the creation of MMDs in the South; also was used to dilute or crack the minority vote in States such as Mississippi (before Connor v. Johnson) |
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Term
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Definition
| • 1968 Presidential candidate behind McGovern-Fraser act--rewrote the rules so he would win • Importance: McGovern-Fraser gives way more weight to primaries in selecting Prez Candidates--increases use of Proportional Representation formula, leading to more contentious, diverse conventions |
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Term
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Definition
• Def: a cap on the number of stints a representative can serve in office. • Importance: State Democrats took them off the Governor position so their candidates would enjoy an incumbency advantage.
- Term limits take away democratic incumbency advantage; one of the main reasons for a republican resurgence at the LOCAL LEVEL.
- There are no limits in House, Senate.
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Term
| In at large elections, candidates are chosen ______________ rather than ______________ |
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Definition
| In at large elections, candidates are chosen on an individual basis rather than as representatives of a geographically defined area |
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Term
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Definition
• case in which the SC held that electoral districts must be drawn without racially discriminatory intent to warrant constitutional protection
• overturned by Congress shortly thereafter--by extending Voting Rights Act of 1965, they say intent doesn’t matter on issues of race, upholding the necessity for MMDs |
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Term
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Definition
| • Definition: The effect district packing has on its surrounding districts by making them predominately, if not totally, white. • Importance: Bleaching has been blamed for making white Democrats elected from these districts more conservative in their voting record. Marvin worries that while there will be more minority officials in Congress, Congress as a whole will become less in favor of minority policies. Civil rights issues are the first things that Bleached-District-Democrats ignore. Also, it gives Republicans an advantage of numbers. Bleaching coincides with majority-minority districts, which restrict huge bases of Democratic support to one district. |
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Term
| Minority influence districts |
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Definition
| • Definition: T“cracking the vote” is an example. a district that doesn’t have a majority of minorities, but has a significant bloc of minority voters. • Importance: Minority-influenced districts were the vehicle used by the southern Democratic party to keep large numbers of House seats. Putting a significant amount of minority votes in each district gave each Democratic candidate a slight boost. |
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Term
| Realignment and Secular Realignment |
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Definition
• Definition: Either a massive change of a group of people’s political identification from one party to another, or a gradual shift from one majority party to another.
Critical= Fast
Secular=slow
• Importance: Identified the majority.
But which prevails? From 1800 to about 1930, we saw critical realignments almost every 30 years, but we haven’t seen one since.
Now, we are experiencing a secular realignment. Republicans are slowly becoming the majority, but not because people are converting--Old folks saved by FDR are dying.
Migration also has an effect. Older people move south and retire on Social Security, young entrepreneurs start businesses there, an increased military presence.
All of these groups tend to vote Republican. |
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Term
| Substantive Representation: |
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Definition
• Definition: representation based upon shared POLICY beliefs between votes and elected representatives
• Importance: Substantive rep. makes white democrats less sensitive to black concerns (absence of MMDs assumed--fewer blacks in their district)
o MMDs harm substantive rep., draining off democratic voters from surrounding areas (ASSUMING: GOP voters exist, dems aren’t careful with map drawing, and GOP capitalizes) |
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Term
| Descriptive Representation |
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Definition
| • def: representation based upon notion of shared physical characteristics . ie a black rep should represent black population • Importance: there’s a notion of value/societal good in greater descriptive representation because it serves to EMPOWER those minority communities o Maximizing DESCRIPTIVE hurts SUBSTANTIVE and vice a versa |
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Term
| Why is empowerment important when referring to minority voters? |
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Definition
• Blacks and hispanics trust gov’t less--lower levels of belief in the fairness of American system, and less investment in America than whites
• If you increase level of descriptive representation, you help empower minority communities, helping society as a whole by creating a new generation of minority citizens who are more invested in the success of the system |
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Term
| “cognitive madisonianism” |
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Definition
• Definition: Voting for divided government for the sake of divided government
• Importance: People don’t want gov’t to have power over all three branches.--Reason for a GOP surge in the 90s after Clinton |
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Term
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Definition
• Definition: First African American congressman to be elected as a member of the Democratic party • Importance: a Southerner by Birth--born near Lafayette, Alabama. Office boy to Booker T. Washington
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- 1941 Mitchell argued that he was sold a first-class ticket and then was forcibly removed from a first-class railroad car and that removal was a violation of his constitutional rights. With his legal experience and education, Mitchell was capable of arguing and presenting his own case to the Supreme Court.
- The Supreme Court finally ruled on Mitchell’s case on April 28, 1941. The Court ruled that the separate-but-equal coach laws of the southern states did not apply to interstate travel and were in violation of the Interstate Commerce Act. This was a significant ruling and victory for the burgeoning civil rights movement. In reality, even though this case was a civil rights victory, the southern states continued to operate just as they always had. It would take further court battles and challenges to truly overthrow the Jim Crow system.
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Term
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Definition
• Definition: Various forms of intimidation, legal actions, and political maneuverings by Southern Democrats that was intended to keep blacks and poor whites from being able to vote.
• Importance: The reason George White lost his position in 1901. Not another black rep from the South until 73, after VRA65 and CRA64. Also, the extent to which the politicians worked to keep blacks and the poor from voting shows how desperate the elite were becoming when the southern wing of the Democratic party lost its minority hold on the party.
• First, state lawmakers made small crimes punishable by disenfranchisement, and intimidated voters with “job lashings”
• used party ballots
• House passed a law allowing the federal gov’t to post the army at the polls - lawmakers tried changing the laws.
• “8 box Law”
• made poll taxes cumulative.
• They got away with these things because the North was doing the same things to immigrants. Voter denial is a key reason why the South lagged so far behind the North in civil rights. |
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Term
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Definition
• Definition: Once a majority-minority district has been established, you can’t dismantle it. It was part of the Voting Rights Act 1982 Extension.
• Importance: The 1982 Extension, as a whole, was put in place to create as many majority-minority districts as possible. The non-retrogression clause was the bill’s way of ensuring that majority-minority districts were here to stay. The Voting Rights Act’s favorable treatment of quotas from Republicans was a strange dynamic because typically Republicans are anti-quota. This shows that Republicans think they benefit from district packing. |
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Term
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Definition
• Definition: Ex oficio delegates to convention who have their delegation by virtue of their office--party luminaries, former presidential candidates
• Importance: They do not have to go to primaries to go to convention. Makes it easier to lure Southern democrats to convention because they have an independent, unpledged voice |
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Term
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Definition
• Definition: Similar to Barbara Jordan, he was on of the first southern blacks elected to Congress in the 1970s.
• Importance: This was decades after northern states had elected black Congressmen. The reason for the lag in the South electing a black Congressmen is due to higher levels of racial polarization in the South as well as fewer political resources for blacks. Also, |
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Term
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Definition
• Definition: The notion that by packing minority-majority districts, the constituents are wasted because they only influence one lawmaker to represent their cause. • Importance: This is seen mostly by the election of white Democrats in the bleached districts outside of the packed districts. If a white Democrat is elected in one of these bleached districts, he typically becomes much more conservative. Usually, they become most conservative on Civil Rights or other issues that are important to black voters. They don’t have to answer to these voters so they have no reason to appease them.
While packed districts may elicit more minority representatives, they may in fact be making Congress more conservative and less sensitive to racial issues by protecting all the other representatives from having to fight for their cause. Minority constituents are wasted because they are all bundled together and only influence one representative as opposed to many. |
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Term
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Definition
• Definition: Regional super primary that gets as many Southern sttes as possible to schedule their primaries immediately after Iowa and New Hampshire
• Importance: Gives southern democratic presidential hopefuls a reason,opportunity to get involved |
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Term
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Definition
| • Definition: One of the first Southern black politicians elected to Congress in the 1970’s. She was from Houston. • Importance: The timing of her election is most important. Northern states had black Congressmen for years, but the South lagged behind for a few major reasons: Mostly, there is greater polarization between races in the South. Also, Southern blacks have fewer political resources as they are concentrated in rural areas. Finally, the black population centers had their votes “cracked” for years. There was no majority-minority districts, and whites typically wouldn’t vote for minority candidates. |
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Term
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Definition
• Definition: Take over offices at the lower levels and train candidates up to repair republican candidacy
• Importance: a major component of the GOPs rise to power after it was implemented by Newt Gingrich |
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Term
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Definition
• Definition: Final victim of Jim Crow--forced out of congressional office in 1901
• Importance: Voted out of office because those who would vote for him couldn’t make it to the polls. After GW, elections of Southern blacks faltered while they experienced a resurgence in the North. Not another black congressman elected in the South until 1973 (18 northern blacks in that time) |
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Term
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Definition
Definition: SC decision that found an electoral district created to disenfranchise blacks violated the Fifteenth Amendment
Importance: Precedent for Baker v. Carr--landmark voting rights case that allows the high court to get their foot in the door of district line racial politics. |
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Term
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Definition
Definition: Supreme Court decided that redrawing district lines presents justiciable questions, enabling federal courts to intervene in and to decide the outcome of cases dealing with racial gerrymandering (packing or cracking)
Importance: Precedent for Shaw v. Reno, which uses the “justiciable” verbiage in their decision. Establishes federal courts’ role in deciding cases related to gerrymandering (Shaw v. Reno, City of Mobile v. Bolden.. |
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Term
| What court case are MMDs rooted in? |
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Definition
| Connor v. Johnson...Mississippi tried to create multi members disticts to keep black reps mostly out of congress. |
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Term
| Which court case decided that gerrymandering based on race must be held to strict scrutiny? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is a firewall and why is it important? |
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Definition
Southern states move elections for state offices to non-Presidential election years.
Creates a "firewall" to insulate Democrat candidates for non-Presidential positions from the success of Republican presidential candidates in the South |
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Term
| What differentiates Secular realignment from critical realignment? |
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Definition
Critical: Fast realignment driven by conversion of voters; used to happen every 30 years but abruptly stopped after the 70s(60s?)
Secular: Slow realignment driven by gradual forces such as generational replacement and migration |
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Term
| What is dealignment and how does it differ from realignment? |
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Definition
De: Voters sever ties with all political parties and tend to identify themselves as independents.
Realignment refers to people/a population switching majority party allegiance |
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Term
Explain the "geographic logic" behind Southern republican resurgence in larger constituencies first before smaller oens:
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Definition
- Smaller percentage of voters that incumbents know personally in larger constituencies
- Greater likelihood that larger constituencies will have residents whou would make attractive candidates
- Greater likelihood that larger constituencies will yield at least one attractive candidate for minority party
- Ability to gerrymander sub-state districts to make them more partisan
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Term
Explain the rationale and importance behind "friends and neighbors" voting:
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Definition
Voters are more likely to vote for you if they know you and consider you their "friend and neighbor"
- Gives democrats a huge advantage in the South because they've been there for so long--republicans are relatively new in South
- South's democratic background is key--many Republicans are carpet baggers
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