BLACK WOMEN HAD THE HIGHEST VOTER TURNOUT RATE IN 2008.

The most active demographic in the 2008 election was black women, according to a report released by the Pew Center. The electorate was the most diverse in American history, with minorities representing an unprecedented number of voters, and the participation gap between black and white voters was ground down to less than a percentage point. Black women had the highest voter turnout rate of any group.

Perhaps most surprising is that the surge in black voter turnout was especially pronounced in the South:

From 2004 to 2008, the greatest increases were in Southern states with large black eligible voter populations: Mississippi (where the voter turnout rate was up 8 percentage points), Georgia (7.5 points), North Carolina (6.1 points) and Louisiana (6.0 points). It also increased in the District of Columbia (6.9 points)

The Supreme Court is currently considering whether or not to declare Section 5 of the Civil Rights Act, which forces certain regions in the country with a history of discrimination (mostly in the South) to clear their election law changes with the Department of Justice, unconstitutional. The large turnout in the South is likely in no small way attributable to the Voting Rights Act, and Section 5 in particular, but those opposed to Section 5 will use these gains as a way to undermine the protections they helped produce.  The key question is though, would these gains have been possible otherwise? And if not, then aren't they still needed?