Joshua Freedman
Pronouns: He/Him
Research Mentor(s): Ignangeli Salinas-Muniz
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Political Science / LSA
Program:
Authors: Joshua Freedman, Ignangeli Salinas-Muniz, Ingrid Hofmann
Session: Session 7: 4:40 pm – 5:30 pm
Poster: 101
Abstract
Contrary to expectations of American democracy and legislators being everywhere equal, six members of the House of Representatives cannot vote on the House floor. These are delegates from Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. They represent approximately four million American citizens, more so than the population of Wyoming, Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota combined. However, how these voting restrictions affect their ability to represent their constituents has been scarcely studied. Using a dataset of 2009-2016 congressional communications with the Department of Interior—the federal agency historically responsible for administering territorial possessions—we test if the DOI responds less frequently to non-voting members than voting members. This methodology permits a rare case of legislative voting variation, and the initial results have implications for the power of the vote, the powers that render federal agencies responsive or not, and the quality of representation in D.C. and the territories. We aim to test this on more federal agencies in the future.
