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Alaska, Michigan, New Hampshire, and South Dakota exhibit different levels of progress in Voting Rights. Voter participation in the covered jurisdictions continues to lag for minority voters compared to Anglo whites, but there is contextual evidence of greater Native than white participation in Alaska, and of greater black than white voter participation in Buena Vista Township, Michigan.

There is little evidence of legally significant, racially-polarized voting in Alaska, and Native Alaskans make up over a quarter of all elected legislators (almost all elected Native legislators are candidates of choice). The overwhelmingly-white, covered townships of New Hampshire show lower rates of voter participation than the rest of the state, though a majority of voting age population participated in the covered New Hampshire townships in the 2000 general election. One New Hampshire township covered by Section 5 has no residents as of the 2000 census.

South Dakota shows the least progress of these four states, though the state is poised to attain Native American proportionality in the legislature. What progress has been accomplished on this front is more a product of efforts under section 2 of the Voting Rights Act than of the application of preclearance authority under section 5.

Edward Blum is a visiting fellow at AEI.