Review: The Turnout Gap: Race, Ethnicity, and Political Inequality in a Diversifying America, by Bernard L. Fraga

Scholars of American electoral politics have spent more than a generation trying to understand why Americans participate in politics. These scholars ultimately find that Americans participate through voting based on social, rational, and psychological factors. Upon the expansion of the American electorate by removing the state- and federal-sanctioned barriers to block minorities from voting, scholars became interested in understanding why these groups failed to take advantage of their newfound right to vote. Bernard Fraga enters the debate, not by trying to explain why minorities have low turnout, but by trying to understand why there continues to be a gap between minority voter turnout and the turnout of Whites in the United States. The persistent turnout gap suggests that the removal of structural barriers may not be enough. Much more is required to eliminate the gap between...