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. ;2t"L San Marcos Election Analysis - Final Report / January 1 0, 1994 / Page 6 in turn, routinely lose to Anglo opponents. This Anglo "voting bloc" scenario does not characterize San Marcos during the 13-year period we examined. The final element of the Gingles test goes beyond the analysis of election returns to raise the question of whether the ethnic minority population of a community is sufficiently large and geographically compact to permit the drawing of at least one majority-minority district in a multi-district plan. On the basis of the City demographic data we have examined in conjunction with l our election analysis, we can state without hesitation that the Hispanic population of San Marcos is sufficiently large and geographically compact to draw at least one majority-Hispanic district in a multi-district Council plan. The City clearly satisfies this prong of the Gingles test. Recapping the performance of the City on the Gingles test, based on our analysis, we conclude that: 1} The minority/Hispanic community is sufficiently large and geographically compact to form at least one majority-minority district in a multi-district Council plan. 2} Hispanic voters are politically cohesive; the cohesiveness between Black and Hispanic voters is less apparent (judging from limited information). { 3} Anglo voters do not vote effectively and consistently as a bloc to defeat candidates preferred by minority voters. Beyond the Gingles criteria, which basically serve as prerequisites to a justiciable federal voting rights claim, other factors, especially those unique to the community in question, which might bear on the advisability/feasibility of districting, must be considered. In cases challenging at-large voting systems, the courts have labeled these additional factors, collectively, the "totality of circumstances." The purpose of inquiries based on the Gingles test and the "totality of circumstances" is a care- ful assessment of the voting system in question. I The decision to move from an at-large voting system to a districting system, even a partial districting system, is an extremely serious matter. While districting has had a pronounced impact on voting rights and voting patterns across the nation during the last several decades, especially in communities with longer-standing and more serious voting problems, the process is not without limitations. Indeed, following more than two decades of social experimentation with new districting systems, we are just beginning to understand better not only the advantages of the system, but also the more important disadvantages, especially for a smaller community like San Marcos. We urge extremely careful consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of districting before modifying or abandoning the current at-large system.