Cite as: 512 U. S. 874 (1994)
Blackmun, J., dissenting
pretation that this Court, Congress, and the Attorney General consistently have given the Act in general and § 5 in particular, the practice of electing a single commissioner, as opposed to a multimember commission, constitutes a "standard, practice, or procedure" under § 2.
Nearly 30 years of precedent admonish us that the Act, which was adopted "for the broad remedial purpose of 'rid-[ding] the country of racial discrimination in voting,' " Chisom v. Roemer, 501 U. S. 380, 403 (1991), quoting South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U. S. 301, 315 (1966), should be given "the broadest possible scope," Allen v. State Bd. of Elections, 393 U. S. 544, 567 (1969). Because "the Act itself nowhere amplifies the meaning of the phrase 'standard, practice, or procedure with respect to voting,' " the Court "ha[s] sought guidance from the history and purpose of the Act." Dougherty County Bd. of Ed. v. White, 439 U. S. 32, 37 (1978); see also McCain v. Lybrand, 465 U. S. 236, 246 (1984) (the Act must "be interpreted in light of its prophylactic purpose and the historical experience which it reflects").
Consistent with the Act's remedial purposes, this Court has held that a wide variety of election- and voting-related practices fit within the term "standard, practice, or procedure." Among the covered practices are the annexation of land to enlarge city boundaries, see Perkins v. Matthews, 400 U. S. 379, 388 (1971), and Pleasant Grove v. United States, 479 U. S. 462, 467 (1987); a rule requiring employees to take leaves of absence while they campaign for elective office, see Dougherty County Bd. of Ed., 439 U. S., at 34; candidate filing dates and other procedural requirements, see Whitley v. Williams, decided with Allen v. State Bd. of Elections, supra; Hadnott v. Amos, 394 U. S. 358, 365 (1969); NAACP v. Hampton County Election Comm'n, 470 U. S. 166, 176-177 (1985); and candidate residency requirements, see City of Rome v. United States, 446 U. S. 156, 160 (1980).
Specifically, this Court long has treated a change in the size of a governing authority as a change in a "standard,
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