Barriers to Democracy: Voter Suppression and the Mobilization of Black Voters

Abstract

The United States is a representative democracy, meaning that citizens vote to elect officials who represent them at the state level (i.e., house of representatives and senate), in the electoral college, and at the executive level (i.e., the President). Consequently, votes hold a significant amount of power, as they affect who leads the government and what decisions they make around policy and the political agenda. Due to the power of voting, researchers in both psychology and political science have explored facets of voting behavior, assessing what motivates an individual to vote and the factors that affect who they choose to vote for. However, little of the extant literature has centered Black people in their exploration, resulting in a limited understanding of the factors that affect Black voting behavior. This dissertation addresses this gap by exploring the following research questions: (1) How has Black people’s socio-historical position effected their decision to vote?; (2) To what extent, if any, does social status explain variation in Black voter turnout?; (3) Is the relationship between social status and voting explained by political engagement and awareness of inequality?; (4) What are the mechanisms through which system-based factors (i.e., voter registration laws) and institution-based factors (i.e., unions, schools) mobilize/demobilize Black voters? To this end, in chapter 1, I provide a historical overview of Black people’s experience with system-based disenfranchisement and mistreatment in the United States to clarify our understanding of their political reality. In chapter 2, I build a theory of Black voting outcomes that is informed by prior theory and research, in particular the Civic Voluntarism Model (CVM). I posit that for Black people, social status (e.g., education, SES) predicts their decision to vote in an election and that this relationship is influenced through their political engagement and awareness of inequality. I also introduce structural and institutional (de)mobilization factors and suggest that the strength of the relationship between political engagement and awareness of inequality depends on a constituent’s experience with these mobilization factors. Finally, in chapter 3, I test my proposed model and data from the American National Election Studies. This research is important because centering the Black voter will give insight into how systemic voter suppression effects Black voter turnout, which has implications for the priorities of those who have the structural power to address these experiences and improve the political access of Black people across the U.S.