Democracy’s Deficit: The Role of Institutional Contact in Shaping non-White Political Behavior Marcela García-Castañon San Francisco State University Kiku Huckle Pace University Hannah L. Walker Rutgers University Chinbo Chong University of Michigan Abstract: This paper examines the effect of institutional contact on political par- ticipation among non-White communities. While both formal and informal institutions help shape community citizen participation, their effects vary on the historical inclusion (or exclusion) of certain racial groups. Formal institu- tions, like political parties, have historically excluded or neglected non-White and immigrant voters. We argue that for the excluded or neglected, non- traditional political institutions, like community based organizations, serve as supplements to facilitate political incorporation and engagement. These infor- mal institutions help develop skills and resources among their constituents, and offer routine opportunities to participate. We use the 2008 Collaborative Multi-racial Post-Election Survey (CMPS) to test the differential effects of self-reported voter mobilization through nonpartisan and partisan institutional contact to explain variations among racial groups by the intensity of contact, occurrence of co-ethnic outreach, and type of institutional mobilization. We find that while contact by a partisan/political institution, like a political party Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Marcela García-Castañon, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, HUM 304, San Francisco, CA 94132. E-mail: mgcs@sfsu.edu Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, page 1 of 31, 2019. © The Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2019 doi:10.1017/rep.2018.24 2056-6085/19 1 terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/rep.2018.24 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 107.152.181.184, on 04 Jan 2019 at 11:18:24, subject to the Cambridge Core