Has the country’s racial turnout gap grown since 2013?

The country’s racial turnout gap between Black and white, non-Hispanic voters has grown since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Shelby County vs. Holder decision. The 2013 decision ended preclearance, which gave the federal government oversight of electoral processes in nine states — including Georgia — to prevent discriminatory voting practices.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Black voters turned out at a higher pace than white voters did in 2012 — the first time Black voters outpaced white voters since the bureau measured the metric.

But in the first presidential election after the Shelby decision, the Brennan Center for Justice found the nationwide gap had reversed. White voters had a turnout rate 5.9% higher than Black voters and, by 2020, that gap widened to 8.3%.

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Sources

• U.S. Census Bureau Blacks Voted at a Higher Rate than Whites in 2012 Election – A First, Census Bureau Reports