Cite as: 512 U. S. 874 (1994)
Blackmun, J., dissenting
analysis prescribed in Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U. S. 30 (1986).
To prevail in a vote-dilution challenge, minority voters must show that they "possess the potential to elect representatives in the absence of the challenged structure or practice." Id., at 50, n. 17 (second emphasis supplied).3 There is widespread agreement, see ante, at 880 (opinion of Kennedy, J., and Rehnquist, C. J.); ante, at 887 (opinion of O'Connor, J.), that minority voters' potential "in the absence of" the 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.4
By all objective measures, the proposed five-member Bleckley County Commission presents a reasonable, workable benchmark against which to measure the practice of electing a sole commissioner. First, the Georgia Legislature specifically authorized a five-member commission for Bleckley County. 1985 Ga. Laws 4406. Moreover, a five-member commission is the most common form of governing authority in Georgia. See Georgia Dept. of Community Af-3 Although Gingles dealt with the use of multimember districts, the analysis it prescribes is applicable in certain other vote-dilution contexts, such as a claim of "vote fragmentation" through single-member districts, see Growe v. Emison, 507 U. S. 25, 37-42 (1993), or the case before us.
4 As the United States explains, the minority group must be permitted to establish that, under "a proposed alternative voting arrangement that is reasonable in the legal and factual context of a particular case," it could constitute a majority. Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 8. The Court of Appeals followed this approach, concluding that "it is appropriate to consider the size and geographical compactness of the minority group within a restructured form of the challenged system when the existing structure is being challenged as dilutive" (emphasis in original). 955 F. 2d 1563, 1569 (CA11 1992). See also Carrollton Branch of NAACP v. Stallings, 829 F. 2d 1547 (CA11 1987) (remand of challenge to sole-commissioner system with instructions to consider size and geographic compactness within proposed three- and five-member commission forms of government).
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