Collaborative Research on the Implementation and Effects of the Voting Rights Act

尽管1965年的《投票权法案》被誉为二战后颁布的最成功的政策立法，但研究其影响和后果的科学工作却明显缺失。虽然对该法案的影响有不同的看法，也有关于该法案在许多其他立法领域的影响和实施的文献，但尽管该法案的范围和重要性很大，但大多数关于该法案的最佳学术研究都是法律和宪法的。除了最近的一些重要的例外，迄今为止，大多数实证工作都是轶事性的，或者在概念化和方法复杂性方面处于相对较低的水平。Drs。格洛夫曼和戴维森以及一组合作调查人员试图通过开展一个系统的、多地点的项目来纠正这种情况。该设计包括最初受该法案保护的南方腹地的七个州，以及中西部和东北部拥有大量黑人和西班牙裔人口的其他州，以及西南部拥有大量墨西哥裔美国人、印第安人或黑人人口的其他州。将建立至少四个数据库：(1)所有司法管辖区从一般选举转向单一选区或混合制度的前后数据库；(2)在持续使用一般选举的随机抽样司法管辖区中，关于少数族裔代表变化的纵向数据库；(3)所有单一选区和普通选区的数据库，确定少数族裔人口规模和选举结果；(4)所有当选少数族裔官员样本的数据库，确定该辖区的选举类型和其他相关特征。数据将在市、县、学校董事会和州立法机构收集。为了便于比较纵向分析，来自各级政府的数据将在县一级汇总。这一重大努力可以预期产生同样重大的贡献。在理论层面上，这项工作有很大的希望增加我们对投票制度的后果、法律对社会变革的影响以及实施背后的动态的理解。在实质性的层面上，这项研究将产生关于美国种族关系的知识，以及将在20世纪颁布的最重要、影响最深远的联邦法律之一。此外，除了这组调查人员将完成的工作之外，该项目还将产生一个适合其他学者分析目的的大量数据库。

Although the 1965 Voting Rights Act has been hailed as perhaps the most successful piece of policy legislation enacted in the post-WWII era, scientific work examining its influence and consequences has been remarkably absent. While there are views about the Act's impact and a literature dealing with impact and implementation in a host of other legislative domains, most of the best scholarship dealing with the Act has been legal and constitutional despite the scope and importance of this piece of legislation. With some recent and important exceptions, most empirical work to date has been anecdotal or at a relatively low level of conceptualization and methodological sophistication. Drs. Grofman and Davidson along with a team of cooperating investigators seek to remedy this situation through undertaking a systematic, multi-site project. The design includes each of the seven states in the deep South originally covered by the Act and selected other states in the Midwest and Northeast with substantial black and Hispanic populations and in the Southwest with significant Mexican-American, Native American, or black populations. A minimum of four data bases will be formed: (1) a before and after data base for all jurisdictions which have shifted from at-large to a single-member district or mixed system, (2) a longitudinal data base on changes in minority representation in a random sample of jurisdictions continually using at-large elections, (3) a data base for all single-member and at-large districts identifying minority population size and electoral outcomes, and (4) a data base for a sample of all elected minority officials, identifying election type and other relevant characteristics of the jurisdiction. Data will be gathered at the city, county, school board, and state legislative level. To facilitate comparative longitudinal analysis, data from different levels of government will be aggregated at the county level. This major effort can be expected to produce equally major contributions. At a theoretical level, the work holds substantial promise of adding to our understanding of the consequences of voting systems, the impact of law on social change, and the dynamics underlying implementation. At a substantive level, this study will produce knowledge about race relations in America and one of the most important and far reaching federal laws to be enacted in the twentieth century. Further, beyond what will be accomplished by this team of investigators, the project will also yield a substantial data base appropriate for the analytic purposes of other scholars.