Voter turnout in Delray Beach’s black-majority precincts—outlined in green and yellow—hovered between seven and fourteen percent for the 2013 mayoral race (left). When the Service Employees International Union teamed up with local civic groups, voter turnout rose. In March’s city commission elections (right), turnout in the yellow-outlined precincts, where SEIU helped local organizers, ranged from ten to twenty percent. Citywide turnout was fourteen percent. Source: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections.
Delray Beach used to be like most American cities. Its mayor and commissioners were chosen by a handful of voters from neighborhoods consisting mostly of wealthy, older white people.
But now voters from poor, black neighborhoods have become a major force in this south Florida city of about 65,000, where 28 percent of residents are black. In fact, the percentage of voters who turn out from those neighborhoods now matches or exceeds that for the city as a whole. And the civic engagement of these citizens does not end at the ballot box. They stay politically involved year-round.