Politics, Race, and American State Electoral Reforms After Election 2000

The challenging elections of 2000 triggered electoral reforms across many states, though the scope and depth of these reforms varied widely. While political scientists have begun to understand the correlates of race politics, and state policy making in general, much less attention has been paid to these relationships and electoral reforms. In this paper we examine the impact of politics, ethnicity, and fiscal health in leading states to pass electoral reform legislation. Using state level data from 2001 and 2002, we find that partisan electoral balance played a recurrent role in the passage of electoral reforms. States with a divided government or high levels of party competition were averse to reforming several key electoral reforms. Also, partisanship and the interaction of partisanship and minority representation influenced selected electoral reforms. Finally, fiscal constraints had a minor impact. Overall, our findings suggest that electoral reforms were shaped to a greater extent by concerns with partisan electoral balance and the potential electorate than by fiscal strains or the “need ” for reform