The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has in the past altered elections in New York City, and it will continue to do so. Most immediately, the act will ultimately determine whether New York City has nonpartisan elections for all city officials as called for by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and as almost certainly to be recommended by his charter commission and placed before the voters.
The law was a culmination of the black civil rights movement and a cornerstone of Lyndon Johnson’s great society. With it, the federal government would finally fulfill the promise of the Fifteenth Amendment, enabling blacks to exercise the franchise unhindered by exclusionary devices such as literacy tests, white primaries, poll taxes and grandfather clauses. The law prevented states from enforcing discriminatory tactics aimed at preventing blacks fair opportunities to participate in the voting process.
The Voting Rights Act has been amended several times. Legislation established the rights of language minorities, mandating bilingual ballot and oral assistance to those speaking Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Native American languages and Eskimo languages. Later amendments established that the existence of a discriminatory result was sufficient to challenge an electoral arrangement. Proof of discriminatory purpose or intent was not required.
Currently, the law covers all of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, as well as parts of California, Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Dakota – and Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.
APPLICATION TO NEW YORK
Why the three New York City counties?
As a result of a suit brought under the Voting Rights Act in 1967, a longstanding concentration of blacks, previously divided among several, mostly white districts, was consolidated into one district. It sent Shirley Chisholm to Congress in 1968.
In 1970, the act was amended to include jurisdictions that had literacy tests as of November 1, 1968 and where less than 50 percent of the voting age population was registered on that date or voted in the 1968 presidential election. In July 1970, the Attorney General filed a determination that New York State maintained a test or a device – a literacy test enacted in 1922 –that adversely affected minority voting participation. In March 1971, U.S. Bureau of the Census found that fewer than 50 percent of voting age residents were registered in Bronx, Kings, and New York counties. Together these determinations required the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan to become “covered” jurisdictions subject to pre-clearance.
The three boroughs have been required to provide all registration and voting material in Spanish as well as English since the 1975 amendments. In 1992, coverage for Spanish was extended to Queens and coverage of Chinese was applied for the first time in all three boroughs
In 1991, the redistricting plan was thrown out of court, the judge charging that Latino voters were “consistently disfavored” in the proposed Williamsburg-Bushwick and Harlem-East Bronx districts in the law.
In the 1996 presidential election, federal election observers monitored polling places in the Chinatown area to make sure the city was making Chinese-language materials and oral assistance available. The Sept. 25, 2001 Democratic mayoral primary was monitored by the Justice Department for violations of the Voting Rights Act.
On May 29 of this year, the U.S. Justice Department ruled that the City Council district lines drawn by the Districting Commission did not violate the Voting Rights Act
HOW IT WORKS
Section 5 of the law requires state and local governments “covered” by formulas specified in the act to obtain approval from the Attorney General or a judicial panel before implementing any change in a “standard, practice or procedure with respect to voting.” This “pre-clearance” covers everything from polling place locations and methods of election (e.g. at-large or district) to boundaries for legislative districts. A proposed change will be denied if it would make members of minority groups “worse off” with respect “to their opportunity to exercise the electoral franchise effectively.”
The Supreme Court in Thornburg vs. Gingles held that a challenge to a reapportionment plan could be based on “vote dilution effect...” The Court held that “the essence of a claim” under the Voting Rights Act was that “a certain electoral law, practice, or structure interacts with social and societal conditions to cause an inequality in the opportunities enjoyed by black and white voters to elect their preferred representatives.”
The Court established the criteria on which a claim of vote dilution in an apportionment scheme could be made: 1) structural obstacles to the election of minority candidates, such as at-large elections, 2) behavioral patterns that interact with the structural obstacles to exaggerate the political power of the majority such as racially polarized voting, and 3) a resulting under-representation of the minority community relative to its proportion of the population. There is no constitutionally guaranteed right of proportionality in representation. Section 2b of the Voting Rights Act states that “nothing in this section establishes a right to have members of a protected class elected in numbers equal to their proportion in the population.” The Supreme Court has refused to accept “the proposition that members of a minority group have federal right to be represented in legislative bodies in proportion to their members in the general population”
The voting power of a “protected class” can be said to be diluted in a simple sense when its share of the total vote cast declines vis-à-vis others (i.e. white voters) even if the total votes cast may have increased (or decreased) overall and for minority and white voters.
Voting Rights Act and Nonpartisan Elections
The 1998, 1999, and 2002 New York City charter revision commissions retained the services of voting rights expert Prof. Allan Lichtman to determine the voting rights implications of a change to nonpartisan elections in New York City. (The 2001 commission relied on his previous work). Prof. Allan Lichtman concluded, in testimony before the 2002 commission, that nonpartisan elections would not violate the Voting Rights Act. He had reached similar conclusions for the earlier commissions.
Critics have argued that the analysis was incomplete and, in some measures, flawed. They also point to studies which have found that voter turnout overall tends to be lower in nonpartisan elections and voter participation is skewed against residents of lower socioeconomic status (while candidates tend to have higher socioeconomic status)
If in New York City turnout declines (and even if it doesn’t) and minority voters’ share declines disproportionately as the evidence indicates it may, then minority votes will be “diluted” -- and perhaps violate the Voting Rights Act.
For More Information:
Berger, J. (1994). “Pre-clearance and the Voting Rights Act” New York Law Journal, Dec. 15. Pierre-Louis, S. (1995). “The Politics of Influence: Recognizing Influence Dilution Claims Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act” University of Chicago Law Review 62, 1215.
Doug Muzzio is a professor in the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College and a political analyst for WABC.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has in the past altered elections in New York City, and it will continue to do so. Most immediately, the act will ultimately determine whether New York City has nonpartisan elections for all city officials as called for by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and as almost certainly to be recommended by his charter commission and placed before the voters.
The law was a culmination of the black civil rights movement and a cornerstone of Lyndon Johnson’s great society. With it, the federal government would finally fulfill the promise of the Fifteenth Amendment, enabling blacks to exercise the franchise unhindered by exclusionary devices such as literacy tests, white primaries, poll taxes and grandfather clauses. The law prevented states from enforcing discriminatory tactics aimed at preventing blacks fair opportunities to participate in the voting process.
The Voting Rights Act has been amended several times. Legislation established the rights of language minorities, mandating bilingual ballot and oral assistance to those speaking Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Native American languages and Eskimo languages. Later amendments established that the existence of a discriminatory result was sufficient to challenge an electoral arrangement. Proof of discriminatory purpose or intent was not required.
Currently, the law covers all of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, as well as parts of California, Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Dakota – and Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.
APPLICATION TO NEW YORK
Why the three New York City counties?
As a result of a suit brought under the Voting Rights Act in 1967, a longstanding concentration of blacks, previously divided among several, mostly white districts, was consolidated into one district. It sent Shirley Chisholm to Congress in 1968.
In 1970, the act was amended to include jurisdictions that had literacy tests as of November 1, 1968 and where less than 50 percent of the voting age population was registered on that date or voted in the 1968 presidential election. In July 1970, the Attorney General filed a determination that New York State maintained a test or a device – a literacy test enacted in 1922 –that adversely affected minority voting participation. In March 1971, U.S. Bureau of the Census found that fewer than 50 percent of voting age residents were registered in Bronx, Kings, and New York counties. Together these determinations required the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan to become “covered” jurisdictions subject to pre-clearance.
The three boroughs have been required to provide all registration and voting material in Spanish as well as English since the 1975 amendments. In 1992, coverage for Spanish was extended to Queens and coverage of Chinese was applied for the first time in all three boroughs
In 1991, the redistricting plan was thrown out of court, the judge charging that Latino voters were “consistently disfavored” in the proposed Williamsburg-Bushwick and Harlem-East Bronx districts in the law.
In the 1996 presidential election, federal election observers monitored polling places in the Chinatown area to make sure the city was making Chinese-language materials and oral assistance available. The Sept. 25, 2001 Democratic mayoral primary was monitored by the Justice Department for violations of the Voting Rights Act.
On May 29 of this year, the U.S. Justice Department ruled that the City Council district lines drawn by the Districting Commission did not violate the Voting Rights Act
HOW IT WORKS
Section 5 of the law requires state and local governments “covered” by formulas specified in the act to obtain approval from the Attorney General or a judicial panel before implementing any change in a “standard, practice or procedure with respect to voting.” This “pre-clearance” covers everything from polling place locations and methods of election (e.g. at-large or district) to boundaries for legislative districts. A proposed change will be denied if it would make members of minority groups “worse off” with respect “to their opportunity to exercise the electoral franchise effectively.”
The Supreme Court in Thornburg vs. Gingles held that a challenge to a reapportionment plan could be based on “vote dilution effect...” The Court held that “the essence of a claim” under the Voting Rights Act was that “a certain electoral law, practice, or structure interacts with social and societal conditions to cause an inequality in the opportunities enjoyed by black and white voters to elect their preferred representatives.”
The Court established the criteria on which a claim of vote dilution in an apportionment scheme could be made: 1) structural obstacles to the election of minority candidates, such as at-large elections, 2) behavioral patterns that interact with the structural obstacles to exaggerate the political power of the majority such as racially polarized voting, and 3) a resulting under-representation of the minority community relative to its proportion of the population. There is no constitutionally guaranteed right of proportionality in representation. Section 2b of the Voting Rights Act states that “nothing in this section establishes a right to have members of a protected class elected in numbers equal to their proportion in the population.” The Supreme Court has refused to accept “the proposition that members of a minority group have federal right to be represented in legislative bodies in proportion to their members in the general population”
The voting power of a “protected class” can be said to be diluted in a simple sense when its share of the total vote cast declines vis-à-vis others (i.e. white voters) even if the total votes cast may have increased (or decreased) overall and for minority and white voters.
Voting Rights Act and Nonpartisan Elections
The 1998, 1999, and 2002 New York City charter revision commissions retained the services of voting rights expert Prof. Allan Lichtman to determine the voting rights implications of a change to nonpartisan elections in New York City. (The 2001 commission relied on his previous work). Prof. Allan Lichtman concluded, in testimony before the 2002 commission, that nonpartisan elections would not violate the Voting Rights Act. He had reached similar conclusions for the earlier commissions.
Critics have argued that the analysis was incomplete and, in some measures, flawed. They also point to studies which have found that voter turnout overall tends to be lower in nonpartisan elections and voter participation is skewed against residents of lower socioeconomic status (while candidates tend to have higher socioeconomic status)
If in New York City turnout declines (and even if it doesn’t) and minority voters’ share declines disproportionately as the evidence indicates it may, then minority votes will be “diluted” -- and perhaps violate the Voting Rights Act.
For More Information:
Berger, J. (1994). “Pre-clearance and the Voting Rights Act” New York Law Journal, Dec. 15. Pierre-Louis, S. (1995). “The Politics of Influence: Recognizing Influence Dilution Claims Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act” University of Chicago Law Review 62, 1215.
Doug Muzzio is a professor in the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College and a political analyst for WABC.
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It took New Yorkers to come up with an idea as big as the East Coast Greenway, a trail that would extend from Maine to Florida. And, though it is now almost a reality, it could take just a few minor, shortsighted decisions by the City of New York to short-circuit the route in the city, sending it instead over the George Washington Bridge to New Jersey.
Unlike the Appalachian Trail, the East Coast Greenway would go right through the central business district of every big city on the coast. Thousands of visitors would use it for recreation, for exercise, to see the sites - ecotourism - but perhaps its more important purpose would be as practical transportation by pedestrians and bicyclists who reside in places like New York City. Indeed, local activists and government officials developed the idea of the East Coast Greenway as part of the effort to sell an equally ambitious effort within city limits, the 350-mile New York City Greenways System.
Your string section may be playing "impossible dream" in the background at this point, but the East Coast Greenway Alliance, founded by practical professionals from up and down the coast, knew what they were doing. The fact is, the East Coast Greenway is mostly in place within New York City, and all remaining links . are on the Department of City Planning's Greenways Plan for NYC. There is no long-term obstacle to bringing the East Coast Greenway to lower Manhattan, which is remarkable considering that we are talking about what may be the most densely developed property on the planet.
When New Yorkers began all this talk of bicycle/pedestrian trails they were building on the legacy of Fredrick Law Olmsted, the 19th century designer of Central and Prospect Parks, and Robert Moses, the 20th century's master builder of bridges, highways and parks. Both laced the city with "parkways" containing bicycling paths. At the beginning of this new round of the planning process, just 15 years ago, lack of funding was considered the biggest impediment to the construction of a linked bicycle network. But the federal government has so far given $150 million to develop the Hudson River Park's greenway, which is the most successful in the nation, connections have been completed to the George Washington Bridge, and New York's elected officials are jumping aboard: In his first State of the City speech, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced plans to complete "a multi-use recreation path around the entire edge of Manhattan. The success of Hudson River Park demonstrates the need to make our entire waterfront accessible to walkers and cyclists." At the future site of the Brooklyn Bridge Park, which will include a greenway link through its site, Governor George Pataki recently held a bicycle aloft and proclaimed: "I can't wait until I can ride the entire Brooklyn waterfront on this bike!"
But in New York City no good idea is easy to achieve and there are several wrenches in these works. A planned street reconstruction that would place water mains below the Columbia Street neighborhood south of the Brooklyn Bridge could leave the an early segment of the greenway in place without additional construction cost, but the city Department of Transportation desires to widen a lightly used truck route through the working class district to accommodate more traffic. The street widening would cut an existing 15-foot sidewalk along the Red Hook Containerport to just six feet wide, effectively killing the landscaped greenway and making it dangerous to walk two abreast.
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MTA Bridges and Tunnels, the agency that manages the Verrazano Bridge, has no desire to transport pedestrians over the Narrows and has repeatedly claimed winds are dangerous on the bridge. But the Golden Gate Bridge, in the windier city of San Francisco, handles thousands of pedestrians with grace and style.
On Staten Island, greenway development moves forward on the northwest shore, but thus far, an interim trail on the abandoned Staten Island Railroad has been elusive at best. And the Port Authority has closed down the Goethals Bridge pedestrian path for repairs, a project that has taken more than 10 years so far without an announced re-opening.
Over the years, New York City has earned two conflicting reputations. We are considered pioneers in public space development even though we have fewer acres of parkland per capita than other places. But New York is also considered dysfunctional; a place where things just can't get done. It would be sad for a few broken links on a national recreational trail that will eclipse the Appalachian Trail to foil the East Coast Greenway Alliance's vision of passing through the major central business districts along the coast. It will take intervention by citizens groups and elected officials to see that that does not happen.
Dave Lutz is executive director of Neighborhood Open Space Coalition and a board member of East Coast Greenway Alliance.