[3] Voters register
according to race, which gives us a better idea of who votes then do
population figures. We use voter registration figures as our measure
of an election unit's racial makeup. Citywide, there were 428
precincts in 1977; of these 80 were at least 90 percent black and
143 were at least 90 percent white. There were 445 precincts in 1998,
of which 130 were at least 90 percent black and 76 were at least 90 percent white.
Precinct population size is limited. The city limits to about
1,000 the number of registered voters within a precinct; beyond this
threshold, a precinct is divided.
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