Backlash? Schooling Reassignments and the Politics of School Desegregation

We use data from the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) to estimate the effect of diversity-driven schooling reassignments on voter turnout in WCPSS school board elections. Combining unique data detailing the geography and timing of school reassignments within WCPSS with longitudinal, individual-level voter registration and turnout data, we estimate the effect of reassigning students to a different school on voter participation in WCPSS school board elections. Schooling reassignments substantially increased the likelihood that registered voters cast a ballot in WCPSS school board elections, with these effects disproportionately driven by white voters.