Byron White

“ It considered at-large elections, but the prospect of electing 90 legislators at large was deemed so repugnant as to be justified only if the legislature's actions had been 'deliberate and inexcusable'; the court instead believed that the large population increase in Arizona since the last reliable census in 1960 was more to blame. ”

“ Such figures were created by programming the computer to assume that a precinct population was that part of the 1960 county population which the number of registered voters in the precinct in 1968 bore to the number of registered voters in the county in 1968.
If all segments of society were equally likely to register to vote, then the Arizona method of computing population would be unobjectionable. But all members of a community are not equally likely to register. ”

“ Members of the Arizona Legislature who were elected in the 1970 election were elected under a plan the District Court held unconstitutional. Under that plan a computer was instructed to redistrict the State and to accomplish, in order, the following objectives: (1) to make the districts as equal in population as possible; (2) to circumscribe the districts in such a way that each included one incumbent senator and two incumbent representatives ”

“ The 1970 plan insured that no incumbent would be running against another incumbent, as often may happen under a reapportionment plan. Thus the opportunity for preserving the status quo was assisted.
An effort to make each district politically homogeneous compounded this problem. The record provides a new definition of gerrymandering. A gerrymandered district in Arizona is not one where a 'natural' majority finds its power erased by either moving lines to increase the numbers of the opposition in the district or by moving the lines so that a majority is dispersed. ”

“ Not only are the poor, the blacks, the Chicanos, and the Indians less likely to register in the first place, they are also likely to have a higher rate of illiteracy among their members. Arizona law at the time of the decision below required a literacy test for voter registration. ”

“ At the time of this suit there were no Indians elected to either the State House or Senate. But just to the south of the area two state senators lived 10 miles apart. Hence, the incumbency rule was invoked to split the Indian area so as to accommodate the two white senators. ”

“ We presume, of course, that any plan submitted, and certainly any plan approved by the District Court, will be faithful to this requirement.↑ Hearings on S. 818, S. 2456, S. 2507, and Title IV of S. 2029 before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 91st Cong., 1st and 2d Sess., 406 (1969-1970) .↑ Because of the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1970, 84 Stat. 314, literacy tests will not be a factor in future elections. ”