§ 17-206. Prohibitions on voter disenfranchisement. 1. Prohibition\nagainst voter suppression. (a) No voting qualification, prerequisite to\nvoting, law, ordinance, standard, practice, procedure, regulation, or\npolicy shall be enacted or implemented by any board of elections or\npolitical subdivision in a manner that results in a denial or\nabridgement of the right of members of a protected class to vote.\n (b) A violation of paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall be\nestablished upon a showing that, based on the totality of the\ncircumstances, members of a protected class have less opportunity than\nthe rest of the electorate to elect candidates of their choice or\ninfluence the outcome of elections.\n 2. Prohibition against vote dilution. (a) No board of elections or\npolitical subdivision shall use any method of election, having the\neffect of impairing the ability of members of a protected class to elect\ncandidates of their choice or influence the outcome of elections, as a\nresult of vote dilution.\n (b) A violation of paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall be\nestablished upon a showing that a political subdivision:\n (i) used an at-large method of election and either: (A) voting\npatterns of members of the protected class within the political\nsubdivision are racially polarized; or (B) under the totality of the\ncircumstances, the ability of members of the protected class to elect\ncandidates of their choice or influence the outcome of elections is\nimpaired; or\n (ii) used a district-based or alternative method of election and that\ncandidates or electoral choices preferred by members of the protected\nclass would usually be defeated, and either: (A) voting patterns of\nmembers of the protected class within the political subdivision are\nracially polarized; or (B) under the totality of the circumstances, the\nability of members of the protected class to elect candidates of their\nchoice or influence the outcome of elections is impaired.\n (c) For the purposes of demonstrating that a violation of paragraph\n(a) of this subdivision has occurred, evidence shall be weighed and\nconsidered as follows: (i) elections conducted prior to the filing of an\naction pursuant to this subdivision are more probative than elections\nconducted after the filing of the action; (ii) evidence concerning\nelections for members of the governing body of the political subdivision\nare more probative than evidence concerning other elections; (iii)\nstatistical evidence is more probative than non-statistical evidence;\n(iv) where there is evidence that more than one protected class of\neligible voters are politically cohesive in the political subdivision,\nmembers of each of those protected classes may be combined; (v) evidence\nconcerning the intent on the part of the voters, elected officials, or\nthe political subdivision to discriminate against a protected class is\nnot required; (vi) evidence that voting patterns and election outcomes\ncould be explained by factors other than racially polarized voting,\nincluding but not limited to partisanship, shall not be considered;\n(vii) evidence that sub-groups within a protected class have different\nvoting patterns shall not be considered; (viii) evidence concerning\nwhether members of a protected class are geographically compact or\nconcentrated shall not be considered, but may be a factor in determining\nan appropriate remedy; and (ix) evidence concerning projected changes in\npopulation or demographics shall not be considered, but may be a factor,\nin determining an appropriate remedy.\n 3. In determining whether, under the totality of the circumstances, a\nviolation of subdivision one or two of this section has occurred,\nfactors that may be considered shall include, but not be limited to: (a)\nthe history of discrimination in or affecting the political subdivision;\n(b) the extent to which members of the protected class have been elected\nto office in the political subdivision; (c) t
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