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Ballots Instead of Bullets? The Effect of the Voting Rights Act on Political Violence

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  • Jean Lacroix

Abstract

The extension of voting rights epitomizes the construction of modern democracies. This paper empirically investigates the effect of such an enfranchisement on political violence in the context of the US Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965, which forbade discrimination in voting. The formula the VRA used to determine the counties it applied to generated both geographic and temporal local discontinuities in enfranchisement. This paper’s empirical strategy takes advantage of these features by comparing the evolution of political violence in geographically close covered and non-covered counties. Difference-in-differences estimates indicate that VRA coverage halved the incidence and the onset of political violence. Additional empirical evidence implies that voting became the new institutionalized way to state political preferences. Indeed, VRA coverage mostly decreased electoral and small-scale strategic violence. This result is not explained by disaggrievement. Extensions suggest that new strategies of political action may explain a decrease in violence after enfranchisement.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean Lacroix, 2023. "Ballots Instead of Bullets? The Effect of the Voting Rights Act on Political Violence," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 764-813.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jeurec:v:21:y:2023:i:2:p:764-813.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeea/jvac048
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    Cited by:

    1. Bernini, Andrea & Facchini, Giovanni & Tabellini, Marco & Testa, Cecilia, 2023. "Black Empowerment and White Mobilization: The Effects of the Voting Rights Act," CEPR Discussion Papers 18238, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Dominic Rohner, 2025. "Conflict," CESifo Working Paper Series 12035, CESifo.
    3. Andrea Bernini & Giovanni Facchini & Marco Tabellini & Cecilia Testa, 2024. "Sixty years of the Voting Rights Act: progress and pitfalls," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 40(3), pages 486-497.
    4. repec:bge:wpaper:1511 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Atheendar Venkataramani & Rourke O'Brien & Elizabeth Bair & Christopher Lowenstein, 2025. "Political Power and Mortality: Heterogeneous Effects of the U.S. Voting Rights Act," Papers 2510.26857, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2025.
    6. Degrave, Anne & Lopez-Peceno, Alejandro & Rozenas, Arturas, 2024. "Peasants into Citizens: Suffrage Expansion and Mass Politics in France," TSE Working Papers 24-1529, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    7. Kainuma, Shuhei, 2024. "Transition to broader-based politics: The role of suffrage extension in early 20th century Japan," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • N42 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • H89 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Other

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