Democrats Versus Democracy: The Southern Response to the Voting Rights Act

How do dominant groups respond to electoral interventions designed to help minority groups? This article posits that when democratizing interventions empowering subordinate groups are imposed upon dominant groups, dominant groups alter institutions to protect their power. I provide evidence of this in the context of the Voting Rights Act, which enfranchised millions of Black people in the South despite opposition from white elites. Using difference-in-differences design, I show that white incumbents reduced the numbers of county elected officials serving residents in parts of the South under federal supervision 1959–1965 to reduce representation for Black voters without directly blocking votes. I further show that efforts to blunt the electoral effects of Black enfranchisement were most pronounced in counties with large Black populations and large historical Democratic majorities. These findings suggest that when confronted with reforms that constrain their electoral power, dominant groups respond with de-democratizing manipulations of political institutions.