Josh Martin
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Mindy Adnot
In recent years Charlotte has received publicity for having the lowest upward mobility out of the largest cities in America. Additionally, there is a history of residential and educational segregation that persists today. My project focuses on an often overlooked inequity that exists in many American cities: voter participation. Narrowing in on Charlotte neighborhoods, I studied many factors that are related to voter participation. In an ideal world, voter participation would be equal across all neighborhoods but this is not the case. Through my study I was able to identify the inequalities that exist in voter participation among Charlotte neighborhoods. I found that voter participation in majority-white neighborhoods was more than 10% higher than in majority non-white neighborhoods. I found that the age group with the highest average voter participation was 50s, this group had a voter participation rate of 80%. I observed that as the percent white college graduates went up in a neighborhood, so too did the voter participation. I found that as the percent non-white residents without a college degree went up, the voter participation went down. Employment rate, home ownership, and household income were all positively correlated with high voter participation. Finally, I mapped white and black population in Charlotte as well as voter participation and found the the areas of high white population were nearly identical to the areas of high voter participation. With these findings I concluded that the non-white neighborhoods with lower employment rates, home ownership, and average household income required greater access and incentive to vote.