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Alabama has made tremendous strides in black voter registration and participation. In the three most recent years for which non-South estimates are available, Alabama African Americans were at least ten percentage points more likely to have registered than were non-southern blacks. Not only do Alabama African Americans report registering at higher rates than blacks outside the South, in every year beginning with 1990, Alabama African Americans report registering at higher rates than whites who live outside of the South. The gap between black and white voter participation has dramatically narrowed as well, and Alabama blacks and whites are more likely to vote than their non-southern counterparts. In 2004 election, blacks in Alabama participated at a rate of 72.9 percent, white whites participated at a rate of 73.8 percent.

The effort at black voter mobilization has been translated into significant gains in terms of descriptive representation through officeholding. Dramatic gains are evident at every level of office, from school boards and city and county offices, though those gains often came in areas with predominantly black populations. Black state legislators are elected nearly in proportion to the eligible electorate, and black legislators have also held positions of power and influence within the state legislature. Black votes are necessary, but insufficient, to elect Democratic statewide officeholders. Efforts to elect black statewide officeholders have been few and generally unsuccessful, but this is consistent with the pattern of failure of a variety of white Democrats who also sought statewide office. Black candidate performance for statewide contests seems to be a function more of office and party than of race. Democrats in general are losing.

Edward Blum is a visiting fellow at AEI.