School boards were more likely to have Latino members incounties covered by the language assistance provisions of thenow defunct Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act.

More than two years ago the Supreme Court struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, meaning that certain districts and states would no longer need to gain preclearance from the U.S. District Court before making changes to electoral rules. In new research, Melissa Marschall and Amanda Rutherford look at the effects of the language assistance provisions of Section 4(f)(4) of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) on Latino representation on local school boards. They find that in counties covered by the VRA, school boards were more likely to have Latino members, and that this effect was enhanced when elections were monitored by federal observers.