Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-1257_g204.pdf
Page Number: 75

Cite as:  594 U. S. ____ (2021) 

31 

KAGAN, J., dissenting 

ante, at 27, but it is anything but.  More recently, the num-
ber of discarded ballots in the State has gotten smaller: Ar-
izona counties have increasingly abandoned precinct-based 
voting (in favor of county-wide “vote centers”), so the out-of-
precinct rule has fewer votes to operate on.  And the major-
ity  primarily  relies  on  those  latest  (2016)  numbers.    But 
across  the  five  elections  at  issue  in  this  litigation  (2008–
2016), Arizona threw away far more out-of-precinct votes—
almost 40,000—than did any other State in the country. 

  Votes in such numbers can matter—enough for Section 2 
to  apply.   The  majority  obliquely suggests  not,  comparing 
the smallish number of thrown-out votes (minority and non-
minority alike) to the far larger number of votes cast and