Researchers Find Factors Tied To Voting Restriction Bills Are 'Basically All Racial'

Eric Lach – December 20, 2013, 4:02 PM EST

The debate over voting rights has gone to college.

Two University of Massachusetts Boston academics -- Keith G. Bentele, an assistant professor of Sociology, and Erin O'Brien, an associate professor of Political Science -- recently published a paper looking at the proposal and passage of restrictive voter access legislation from 2006 to 2011. In the paper, titled "Jim Crow 2.0? Why States Consider and Adopt Restrictive Voter Access Policies," the authors conclude that restrictive voter measures are connected to both partisan and racial factors.