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C H A P T E R O N E T h e C i t y : S t e p c h i l d o f R e d i s t r i c t i n g C o n t r o v e r s i e s The 1990s were much celebrated for marked increases in the number of Hispanic and black elected officials at the state and national levels relative to previous decades. Explanations for these recent gains may include a myriad of idiosyncratic factors peculiar to particular elections, but most often cited is the central role of redistricting. There is a general consensus among perceptive public officials, political pundits, and academics alike that these gains are the result of a dynamic process that has been going on for several decades. Correctly, it has been largely asserted that these increases are the culmination of a decades-long process that includes congressional acts, federal court rulings , and affirmative efforts by the U.S. Department of Justice to realize a more representative government through the oversight of election practices, including the fundamental process of redistricting. Underpinning this dynamic process is the sociology of voting behavior, the raw politics of elected officials , and the geography of where we live and work. While no doubt there is consensus that redistricting decisions have impacted the who and how of elections , the redistricting process itself, and the electoral product of that process, remains by all measures contentious and controversial. We begin our explanation of the election of Hispanics and blacks to city councils by first looking at the mechanics of election systems.The single-member district system has been advanced as the preferred remedy for the dilution of minority voting strength and, by extension, credited with the increases in elected minorities at the state and national levels.There has been similar attention focused on the single-member district election format and the election of minorities at the municipal level, too. Much of this focus, however, has centered on the single-member district format as advantageous to the election of 1 minorities relative to the at-large (i.e., citywide) election format.1 It has been demonstrated at the municipal level, for example, that both Hispanics and blacks are more likely to be elected in cities that use the single-member district format than cities that use the at-large election format.2 This stems from the fact that under an at-large election format a minority population may be a numerical minority, but with the adoption of single-member districts it may constitute a numerical majority in one or more districts. By the 1990s it was more common than not for municipalities to use the single-member district election format. Much of this influence on the election of minorities attributed to election format is predicated on individual behavior. It has been documented that racial minorities are more likely to run for office when they are a numerical majority within single-member districts (Helig and Mundt 1984, 58–59; Polinard, Wrinkle, and Longoria 1991; Karnig and Welch 1980, 86–87) and that voters, when given a choice between or among minority and nonminority candidates, tend to divide along group lines in their candidate preferences (Vanderleeuw 1990; Murray and Vedlitz 1978; Reeves 1997, esp. 76–90; Carsey 1995; Lieske and Hillard 1984; Issacharoff 1992; Williams 1990; Chervenak 1998, 218–31; Sigleman et al. 1995; Pildes 1997, 2512 n23; Browning, Marshall, and Tabb 1997; Walton 1985, 73–130; Dawson, Brown, and Allan 1999; Streb 2002, 189–96).3 Yet the extent to which voters crossover to vote for candidates not of their group varies greatly (e.g., Bullock 1984; DeLorenzo, Kohfeld, and Stein 1997; Herring and Forbes 1994, 437–40; Vanderleeuw 1990).4 As evidenced above, within the last twenty years there has been much theoretical development and empirical testing of the relationship between election format and the increases in Hispanic and black elected representatives. Despite this attention, we are far from providing a thorough explanation of the presence of Hispanics and blacks on municipal councils. The simple presence of a single-member district format in itself does not necessarily assure that minority candidates will be elected. In addition, the condition of a minority group constituting a numeric majority in one or more of these districts certainly will contribute to an increased likelihood that minority candidates will be successful in bids for council seats. Clearly an explanation of the election of...

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