Race and Ethnicity Commons^™

Black Candidates And Black Voters: Assessing The Impact Of Candidate Race On Uncounted Vote Rates, Michael C. Herron, Jasjeet S. Sekhon

Dartmouth Scholarship

Numerous studies show that the rate at which African‐Americans cast ballots with missing or invalid votes, i.e., the African‐American residual vote rate, is higher than the corresponding white rate. While existing literature argues that the plethora of African‐American residual votes is caused by administrative problems or socioeconomic factors, we show using precinct‐level data from two recent elections in Cook County, Illinois, that the African‐American residual vote rate in electoral contests with black candidates is less than half the rate in contests without black candidates. African Americans, therefore, are able to reduce their residual vote rate when they wish to do …