At the voting rights argument in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts tore into Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, grilling him on his knowledge of voting statistics. The point the chief justice was trying to make was that Massachusetts, which is not covered by the preclearance section of the Voting Rights Act, has a far worse record in black voter registration and turnout than Mississippi, which is covered by Section 5 of the act. But a close look at census statistics indicates the chief justice was wrong, or at least that he did not look at the totality of the numbers.
So, let’s start with the exchange in court:
Roberts: “Do you know which state has the worst ratio of white voter turnout to African-American voter turnout?”
Verrilli: “I do not.”
Roberts: “Massachusetts.”
Roberts went on to add that the state with the best record, where African-American turnout actually exceeds white turnout, is Mississippi.
Roberts’ questions and conclusion appear to be taken from a census survey cited in alower court dissent. But upon close examination, the numbers are less than reliable, according to the Census Bureau itself.
Here’s the deal. The Census Bureau does voting surveys to look at voting patterns nationwide, but the survey is based on a very small sample. Most recently, in 2010, the survey looked at 94,208 voters nationwide. Break that up into roughly proportional samples in each state, Census officials say, and it is really not possible to compare states because those with relatively low minority populations have a much higher margin of error.
Full Article: In Voting Rights Arguments, Chief Justice Misconstrued Census Data : It’s All Politics : NPR.