Opinion ID: 760818
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Relevant Evidence in the First Gingles

Text: Requirement 16 Plaintiffs argue that courts should be more flexible in evaluating the first Gingles requirement and that it is possible to show that minorities have the ability to elect candidates of their choice even if they comprise less than a majority of voting age citizens in a given district. In making this argument, plaintiffs rely on our decision in Westwego Citizens for Better Government v. City of Westwego, 906 F.2d 1042, 1046 (5th Cir.1990) (per curiam), in which we recognized that [m]inority voting-age population data, minority voter registration data and evidence of success by minority preferred candidates is relevant to the first Gingles factor. Plaintiffs assert that the district court erred in finding that Hispanics would not have the ability to elect a preferred candidate in the proposed districts because Hispanics represent a growing percentage of the total population and Hispanic candidates have succeeded in similar districts. 17 As we held in Westwego, however, evidence relating to elections in similar districts and the total population in a proposed district is relevant only in determining whether a majority of the voting-age population in the proposed district is Hispanic. See id. at 1045-47. The appropriate method of establishing the first Gingles factor is a 'matter of fact' which the plaintiff must prove, but there is no 'uniform method.'  Id. at 1046-47 (quoting Brewer, 876 F.2d at 452). While such evidence may inform the analysis as to whether a minority group comprises a majority of the voting-age citizens in a proposed district and therefore reaches the threshold requirement, evidence that the group may succeed in electing preferred candidates cannot remedy its failure to meet the Gingles threshold. 18 The district court considered plaintiffs' evidence regarding elections in similar districts and the projected growth of the Hispanic population, but the court found plaintiffs' projections unreliable. Furthermore, the court noted that the percentage of Hispanics voting in the PISD and in elections in similar districts has remained essentially unchanged since 1990 and that the rate of growth in Hispanic voter registration has increased at a slower rate than plaintiffs' Hispanic citizen growth projections. Faced with what it described as a Hobson's choice between two unsatisfactory alternatives, the district court properly weighed the evidence and adopted the 1990 census data as the most reliable, and we find no clear error in its decision. Perez, 958 F.Supp. at 1212-13. We therefore affirm the district court's entry of judgment for defendants on the Section 2 claim.