Beame | 34.5% |
Badillo | 29.0% |
Biaggi | 20.5% |
Blumenthal | 16.0% |
Beame | 61.0% |
Badillo | 39.0% |
Koch | 20.0% |
Cuomo | 19.0% |
Beame | 18.0% |
Abzug | 16.5% |
Sutton | 14.0% |
Badillo | 11.0% |
Harnett | 1.5% |
O'Dwyer | 31.0% |
Bellamy | 25.0% |
Burden | 20.0% |
Hirschfeld | 17.0% |
Stavisky | 7.0% |
based on the totality of circumstances, it is shown that the political processes leading to nomination or election ... are not equally open to participation by members of a class of citizens protected by subsection (a) in that its members have less opportunity ... to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.... 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.
historical evidence of past inequality when combined with evidence of lower socio-economic status and lower rates of voter registration, supports a finding that a plaintiff class member has less opportunity to nominate and elect a candidate of choice under a statute which requires a superplurality in the initial primary election (40%), or the burdens associated with running two primary campaigns.
As the Supreme Court has repeatedly noted, discriminatory election systems or practices which operate, designedly or otherwise, to minimize or cancel out the voting strength and political effectiveness of minority groups, are an impermissible denial of the right to have one's vote fully count, just as much as outright denial of access to the ballot box.
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