Study finds expanding voting rights can reduce violence

The extension of voting rights can reduce political violence according to a new paper in the Journal of the European Economic Association. The researcher looked at the effects of the Voting Rights Act.

Political scientists have debated the effects of enfranchisement on politics. In theory, the extension of voting rights to a historically disenfranchised group has great power to reduce the potential for violence since voting offers a channel for those dissatisfied with the status quo to express disapproval and pick new office holders. "Give us the ballot, and we will transform the misdeeds of bloodthirsty mobs into the calculated good deed of orderly citizens," said Martin Luther King in his historic speech before the Lincoln Memorial. In 1964, Malcolm X spoke in Cleveland.

Political equilibria is affected by the extension of votingrights. It is possible that these changes will increase the incentives of elites to compensate for political violence. If people don't see the benefits of enfranchisement, they could turn to violence.

The Voting Rights Act was signed by the president. The political alignment of the U.S. changed dramatically, but its impact on political violence is questionable. Throughout the 1960s, Americans witnessed assassinations and riots in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Atlanta. Riots took place in more than 100 US cities on the night King was killed.

The Voting Rights Act made it illegal to discriminate in voting, but it didn't apply to every jurisdiction. In many cases, federal officials came to register new voters in their county when the practices limiting registration were suspended by the act.

Due to the Voting Rights Act, counties were often located next to each other. In the years after 1965, the researcher compared the data on political violence between covered and non-covered counties.

The researcher found that the Voting Rights Act reduced the number of instances of political violence. In counties covered by the Act, citizens voted to voice their political views, while in other counties they used violence. The effect was mostly due to a change in political strategies rather than changes in policies.

Jean Lacroix said that understanding the voting-violence nexus is of extreme relevance in the current context of increasing discontent with democracy. Multiple countries don't allow voting. It's possible to end policies that encourage citizens to use violence as political action.

More information: Ballots instead of bullets? The effect of the Voting Rights Act on political violence, Journal of the European Economic Association (2022). DOI: 10.1093/jeea/jvac048