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Abstract:
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This study examines the effect of socio-economic and demographic factors on the acceptance rates of provisional ballots in the 2004 and 2006 general elections. The study uses county-level census data along with county-level election data to determine whether individual states exhibit discriminatory electoral practices against African-Americans, Latinos, or other disadvantaged segments of the population. Through ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis of race, income, education, age, poverty rate and foreign-born status, this study does not find a discriminatory pattern of electoral policy on the national level for the 2004 election. However, when the study focuses solely on Ohio and adds data for the 2006 election there is a tentative correlation between counties with higher proportions of African-American and Latino residents and lower acceptance rates of provisional ballots. Moreover, the results are robust across different thresholds for the African-American variable. The results also indicate that controlling for poverty mitigates the impact of race on the acceptance rates of provisional ballots, but only for African-American communities. |