RPV Near Me is a project of the Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School.
Racially polarized voting (RPV) occurs where voters of one race or ethnicity tend to support certain candidates in elections, while voters of another race or ethnicity support different candidates. Given the types of electoral systems used across the U.S., RPV often causes voters of color to have less representation than white voters, and in some cases no representation at all.
At the congressional and state legislative level, the Voting Rights Act has been used by civil rights groups and political actors to counter attempts to dilute the voting power of Black, Latino, Asian American, and Native American voters. But at the local level, it can be hard to access the data and techniques necessary to determine whether RPV exists. This site aims to bridge that gap by providing RPV estimates for every county in the country for at least two recent statewide elections.