Chris Seaman Quoted by Chalkbeat Seaman contributed to a story about the impact of recent voting rights decisions on local school boards.

By Law Communications
June 9, 2026

Washington and Lee law professor Chris Seaman was quoted in a Chalkbeat report examining how the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Voting Rights Act decision Louisiana v. Callais could reshape school board elections nationwide.

Seaman explained that school boards have historically been among the most frequent subjects of Voting Rights Act litigation, accounting for more than one-fifth of all Section 2 voting rights complaints between 1982 and 2024. He noted that many districts adopted district-based election systems only after legal challenges demonstrated that at-large voting diluted minority representation. However, at-large elections remain the most common school board structure in the U.S. Seaman said that the Court’s ruling, which makes Section 2 claims more difficult to pursue, could reduce minority representation on school board across the country.

The research Seaman discussed in the report is included in his forthcoming article, “Voting Rights and Private Rights of Action: An Empirical Study of Litigation Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 1982-2024,” which will be published soon in the Florida State Law Review. In his empirical study, Seaman examined over 1500 challenges brought in federal court between 1982 and 2024. He found that over 90% of Section 2 challenges were brought by private plaintiffs rather than the Attorney General. Moreover, private plaintiffs were highly successful in these challenges, winning nearly two-thirds of the time.

The full Chalkbeat article is available online.

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