With the 2016 election just little over a month away, voter registration and voter turnout statistics are in the forefront of many American’s minds. The Voting Rights Act played a pivotal role in increasing the number of voting age blacks who were registered to vote in states acrosss the country.  The Article below explores the significant impact the Dillard cases had upon Alabama and the fueling of a grassroots movement, which culminated in a “statewide project of providing black Alabamians an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice to local governments.”[1] The success of the project was reflected on both the state and national platforms.  By 1989, it was noted that “the growth rate among black elected officials at the national level nearly tripled from what it was the year before.”[2]

To read Jerome Gray and James U. Blacksher’s Article, The Dillard Cases and Grassroots Black Political Power,  click here.

_________________________________________________________________

[1] Gerome Gray & James U. Blacksher, The Dillard Cases and Grassroots Black Political Power, 46 Cumb. L. Rev. 309, 310 (2016).

[2] Id.