(1) whether Dallas County election officials' failure to ensure that voters were placed in the proper election districts and their resulting incorrect counting of the out-of-district ballots of over 50 white voters constitutes a ‘standard, practice, or procedure’ subject to challenge under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, [and] (2) whether, under the totality of circumstances, defendants' conduct in counting the out-of-district ballots of over 50 white voters and allowing these votes to determine the outcome of the election violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
(a) No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision in a manner which results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color, or in contravention of the guarantees set forth in section 1973b(f)(2) of this title, as provided in subsection (b) of this section.
based on the totality of the circumstances, it is shown that the political processes leading to nomination or election in the State or political subdivision are not equally open to participation by members of a *1023 class of citizens protected by subsection (a) of this section in that its members have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice. The extent to which members of a protected class have been elected to office in the State or political subdivision is one circumstance which may be considered: Provided, That nothing in this section establishes a right to have members of a protected class elected in numbers equal to their proportion in the population.
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