Liza Abram Benham

Democrats have worried about a voting minority under majority rule. Even as Americans have gained more influence over election results, questions persist about which voters exert influence, and how. One attempt to strengthen the influence of a minority is to transform it into the numeric majority in voting districts, or at least to substantially increase the proportion, through ward districting. The resulting majority-minority and minority influence districts have dramatically raised the level of descriptive representation, but the effect on policy is less clear. Benham's analysis suggests that elected representatives from one minority, African Americans, can indeed affect policy. Black city councilors appear (1) to lower the probability of privatization and (2) to raise the probability of contracting set-aside programs.