TESTING ASSUMPTIONS OF THE TOTALITY-OF-THE-CIRCUMSTANCES TEST - AN ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF STRUCTURES ON BLACK DESCRIPTIVE REPRESENTATION

The effect of each element of the Voting Rights Act's totality-of-the- circumstances test on black city council membership is analyzed in 946 cities with 1980 populations exceeding 25,000. Several structural ele ments, namely, staggered terms, majority vote requirements, large coun cils, and longer terms for council members, do not significantly reduc e rates of black membership. There is some evidence, however, that the proportion black on a council is higher when representation is from s ingle-member districts, at least in the South. Even in the South, the advantages of single-member elections vis-a-vis at-large elections do not apply to all types of citywide voting. Black office holding in at- large southern cities with residency requirements or that combines sta ggered terms with pure at-large elections is very similar to that in s ingle-member district cities.