Voting and Race: A Deeper Look - By Racist Divya Srinivasa

By: Divya Srinivasa

The act of voting is not necessarily the most memorable experience in 
anyone’s life. Eligible voters arrive at their local church or school, 
present their ID and submit their ballots, a process that barely lasts 
five minutes and appears simple. In fact, voting is viewed as such an 
ordinary event that some academics have proposed that voting has the 
impression in society of being a “low benefit activity.”¹ This idea of 
“low benefit” might stem from the fact that many people believe their vote 
has no power and/or impact. So why is voting a common form of political 
participation in society, if voting has no tangible benefits? This is 
related to voting’s low costs. Once you are registered to vote, voting is 
as easy as showing up to a local church with an ID. However, one variable 
can greatly affect the cost of voting: registration. If registration 
proves to be difficult or inaccessible, the cost of voting rises and 
people are less likely to vote. This poses an interesting question: is 
this cost felt more by some populations than others? My research aims to 
discern whether variations in voter registration numbers can be partially 
explained by race, theorizing that White populations will have higher 
registration rates among eligible voters than Black and Hispanic 
populations. My preliminary findings reveal that White populations do 
generally have higher registration rates among eligible voters than Black 
and Hispanic populations, with a few exceptions. This conclusion could 
point to the existence of high registration barriers and costs.

An analysis of data from the United States Census Bureau suggests that 
White populations consistently have higher CVAP numbers when compared to 
Black and Hispanic populations.² Citizen voting age population (CVAP) is 
defined as a count of the population that is age 18 and over and is a U.S. 
citizen, making them eligible to register to vote. The figures below 
highlight CVAP variations in the top 25 most populous counties in Texas 
over an eighteen-year period (2005–2009, 2012–2016 and 2019–2023).

As seen in Figure 1, from 2005 to 2009, there is a clear trend of White 
populations being generally larger than Black and Hispanic populations. 
More specifically, 19 counties had White populations with higher CVAP 
numbers than their Black and Hispanic counterparts, accounting for 76% of 
the counties. Despite being the largest ethnic group in Texas, the 
Hispanic population lags in terms of CVAP, pointing to possible 
citizenship differences and potential registration challenges.³ From 2005 
to 2009, in Texas’ largest county, Harris County, the Hispanic population 
was about half that of the White population. By 2019–2023, as seen in 
Figure 3, the gap shrinks but it remains persistent. The Black population 
follows the same overall trend.

However, CVAP is only part of the equation when explaining gaps in 
registration, although the outlook differs slightly for Black and Hispanic 
populations. Data from the Census Bureau, pictured in Table 1, reveals 
that of those eligible to vote, a higher percentage of White people are 
registered to vote than Hispanic people across a 10-year span.4 For Black 
people, the results are mixed, where Black populations have higher 
percentages for three out of six of the data points. However, these 
results could still point to the existence of registration barriers 
preventing Hispanic and some Black voters from registering, despite being 
eligible.

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