Examining the Importance of the Right to Vote: A Case Study of Voter Identification Laws and Their Impact on Social Equity in U.S. Neighborhoods

This thesis examines how two major policies of the past; the Jim Crow Laws and Redlining set precedence for the "New Jim Crow Laws" that are being im­ plemented in the form of voter identification laws–what impact do these laws have on minority turnout, and why planners should be invested in voter laws that support a diverse electorate. Utilizing a guideline from The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, this the­ sis replaces her framework of incarceration solely impacting the African American socioeconomic status to a framework highlighting the disproportionate criminal­ ization of Blacks and how their right to vote is taken away, in addition to voter ID laws disproportionately impacting minority turnout at the election, creating a concept known as the New Jim Crow Laws. This thesis also provides a context to show how racist policies of the past are linked to the disinvestment that minority communities around the U.S. are su↵ering from. The two main policies that this thesis focuses on are Jim Crow Laws and Redlining. This thesis also provides a historical narrative of Jim Crow Laws and Redlin­ ing's past impact on minority's social equity. Alexander's book presents di↵erent arguments and evidence that the African American Civil Rights Movement of 1954 - 1968 was not as successful as it was made out to be. The Civil Rights Movement and Act did not dismantle the conservative Republican Agenda which has allowed them to create a new method of discrimination: The New Jim Crow Laws, in a society which is supposedly "color blind". The underlying argument in this thesis is that African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities are, once again, being systematically and intention­ ally denied their basic right to vote as a citizen of the United States. The New Jim Crow Laws are a covert attempt for Republicans to control the minority vote, swaying the election in favor of the GOP by eliminating the Democrat's winning solution: The Ethnic Bloc. This thesis serves to show that disenfranchising the minority vote in elections serves to progress the systemic Republican agenda of "controlling" Blacks by not allowing them to play a part in electing ofcials who can bring social equity into their communities. This thesis also serves to high­ light the importance of planners to be advocates for voter laws that support a diverse polity. Additionally, this thesis also serves to highlight the planner's role in expanding the electorate to include racially and economically diverse voters which will a↵ord marginalized groups to elect candidates that might invest in roads, public transportation, and other land usage issues. The importance of this right to vote is embedded primarily in the need to elect ofcials who genuinely want to uplift a community and create equal so­ cioeconomic status regardless of race. Alexander's main argument, as well as this thesis is "[t]hrough a web of laws, regulations, and informal rules, all of which are powerfully reinforced by social stigma, [African Americans] are... legally denied the ability to obtain employment, housing, and public benefits–much as African Americans were once forced into a segregated, second class citizenship in the Jim Crow era" (The New Jim Crow, 4).