888
Opinion of O'Connor, J.
reasonable alternative practice as a benchmark against which to measure the existing voting practice"); post, at 951 (Blackmun, J., dissenting) ("[T]he allegedly dilutive mechanism must be measured against the benchmark of an alternative structure or practice that is reasonable and workable under the facts of the specific case"). We require preclearance of changes in size under § 5, because in a § 5 case the question of an alternative benchmark never arises—the benchmark is simply the former practice employed by the jurisdiction seeking approval of a change. See ante, at 883 (opinion of Kennedy, J.).
But § 2 dilution challenges raise more difficult questions. This case presents the question whether, in a § 2 dilution challenge to size, there can ever be an objective alternative benchmark for comparison. And I agree with Justice Kennedy that there cannot be. As Justice Kennedy points out, ante, at 880, the alternative benchmark is often self-evident. In a challenge to a multimember at-large system, for example, a court may compare it to a system of multiple single-member districts. See Gingles, supra, at 38, 50; Davidson, Minority Vote Dilution: An Overview, in Minority Vote Dilution 5 (C. Davidson ed. 1984). Similarly, a court may assess the dilutive effect of majority vote requirements, numbered posts, staggered terms, residency requirements, or anti-single-shot rules by comparing the election results under a system with the challenged practice to the results under a system without the challenged practice. Cf. City of Rome, supra, at 183-185; U. S. Comm'n on Civil Rights, The Voting Rights Act: Ten Years After, pp. 206-208 (1975); Note, Application of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act to Runoff Primary Election Laws, 91 Colum. L. Rev. 1127, 1148 (1991). Though there may be disagreements about the precise appropriate alternative practice in these cases, see Gingles, supra, at 88-89 (O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment), there are at least some objectively determinable constraints on the dilution inquiry.
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